The General
by Mervac09
Summary: Everything's been taken from me. My home. My wife. I didn't expect to get frozen and wake up two hundred years in the future. But now... someone's taken my son. And someone's going to pay.
1. Chapter 1: War Never Changes

"War never changes," I say as I stare at my reflection in the mirror. I need a shave. Probably should brush my hair.

"You're gonna knock them dead at the veteran's hall tonight hun," my wife, Nora, says as she walks up behind me, smiling brightly. She looks better than me, like she always does, with her short brown hair, and beautiful green eyes. Her presence managed to put a smile on my face, always has.

"You think?" I ask.

"Absolutely. Now get ready and stop hogging the mirror," She says.

"Right," I tell her as I start my routine of brushing my hair and shaving my beard. While washing off my face, I size up my reflection and jokingly say, "You think my nose is too big?"

"Of course not," She said as she admires my face. I smile before moving away from the mirror, kiss her on the forehead, and say, "Your turn."

As Nora gets ready in the bathroom, I exit the bathroom and head to the kitchen, getting ready for the day. As I enter, our robot butler, Codsworth, greets me happily and says, "Good morning, sir! Your coffee. 173.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Brewed to perfection!"

I picked up the mug and took a sip from it before saying "Thanks, Codsworth."

"Of course, sir!"

I sit down at the counter for a minute before I hear Shaun begin to wail in the background.

Codsworth declares, "Ah! Sounds like someone made a stinky. I shall attend to young Shaun."

He jets out of the room as Nora walks in and picks up the newspaper.

"Hmm. You know, I was nervous at first, but Codsworth's really good with Shaun," Nora states as she read the paper.

I smile and say "Eh, he's like family at this point."

I head over to our couch and about sit down before I hear the doorbell ring. Yay, maybe it's someone I can befriend.

"Can you get that?" Nora asks me, taking a moment to look up from the newspaper. "It's probably that salesman. He comes for you every day."

I set the mug on the table beside the couch and look outside. The army is surprisingly busy today, and I can hear vertibirds flying in the distance.

"Good morning!" exclaims the salesman as I open the door. "Vault-Tec calling!" He's wearing a tan coat, with a trilby hat, a smile on his face. I smile as I cheerfully say "Good morning!"

"Isn't it, just look at that sky out there!" He says before clearing his throat. "You can't begin to know how happy I am to finally speak with you. I've been trying for days. It's a matter of utmost urgency, I assure you."

I had heard of Vault-Tec, it was hard not to with the vault they were building on the hill near the neighborhood.

"Then I'm glad you caught up with me," I said, my smile not dropping.

"Oh, me too! You have no idea…" the Vault-Tec Rep says trailing off at the end. "Now I know you're a busy fellow, so I won't take up much of your time. Time being a, um, a precious commodity. I'm here today to tell you that because of your family's service to our country, you have been pre-selected for entrance into the local vault!" He makes a wide gesture with his hands before saying dramatically, "Vault one-eleven."

"There's room for my entire family, right?" I ask him, wanting to be sure my wife and kid would be able to get in.

"Of course, of course! Minus your robot, naturally."

Makes sense. He won't be affected by radiation

"In fact, you're already cleared for entrance," the man tells me. "It's just a matter of verifying some information. Don't want there to be any holdups in the unforeseen event of… ahem… total atomic annihilation. Won't take but a moment."

"Sure, let's do it," I tell him, still smiling.

"Splendid, splendid! Now let's see…" He hands me his clipboard where I have to write my name and signature, and fill out the seven S.P.E.C.I.A.L. tabs that we had been rated on a scale of one to ten when I was in the army.

Name: Mason Griffith Black.

My strength, charisma, and endurance had been rated at a five, my perception a six, agility was a two, and I had the worst luck out of everyone with it being a one.

"Wonderful, that's everything," the salesman says as I give the clipboard back. "Uh… just gonna walk this over to the vault. Congratulations on being prepared for the future!"

When he backed down the driveway and was gone, and I shut the door, and say "Thanks again!"

I turn and see Nora sitting on the couch.

"Hey, it's peace of mind," she says, smiling up at me. "That's worth a little paperwork, right?"

"For you and Shaun, no price is too high," I replied happily, as I jump over the couch and sit on it. Nora laughs and beams at me with her beautiful smile. "Good answer."

"I have my moments," I say before Codsworth interrupts us, jetting into the living room. "Mister Black, Shaun has been changed, but he absolutely refuses to calm down. I think he needs some of that 'Paternal affection' you seem to be so good at."

"I got it," I tell Nora as I get up and head to Shaun's room where he's crying his head off, writhing and wriggling in his blankets. I reach down a rub his bell, smiling at the blue eyes he got from me and his adorable nose that he got from his mother. "It's alright, bud," I tell him softly. "Everything's alright." I turn and see Nora leaning again the doorway and she says, "How are the two most important men in my life doing? Spin the mobile a bit. He loves that," she tells me.

I spin it, and we all listen to the tinkling music; Shaun has finally stopped crying, and he watches it in awe. Nora walks over and stands at the front of the crib before saying, "Hey, how's my little guy? Much better now, huh?"

We stand there for a moment, gazing down at our infant son, united for a few moments, before she perks up and says, "Listen, after breakfast I was thinking we could head up to the park for a bit. Weather should hold up."

"Yeah, sounds like fun," I tell her with the biggest smile on my face.

I walked over to her and wrap her in a hug, thinking about how much I loved her.

"Sir! Mum! I think you should see this!" comes Codsworth's anxious voice from the living room.

I immediately noticed something must be seriously wrong, my smile dropping from my face. It's something to do with the silence outside; with Shaun's silence in particular. My hands suddenly start shaking like I'm cold. Nora notices this and realizes something must be wrong, because the one thing we both knew, was that my instincts are never wrong.

"Codsworth? What's wrong?" Nora calls. When there's no answer, I shoot her a firm look, not needing to express my fears out loud. She instantly reaches into the cot and lifts out Shaun, before following me to the living room.

As I leave the room and head towards the television, I can hear the sounds returning. There are sirens in the distance. The chop-chop-chop of vertibird blades overhead. And shouting and screaming. As I enter the living room, I can see Codsworth is staring at the television. And on the television is the news reporter, sweating in front of the camera, his voice shaking. He's one of the most confident anchors on television and here he is: a sweating, panting mess. He's talking about flashes and explosions, how they've lost contact with all the stations and outposts. "…We do have confirmed reports of nuclear detonations in New York and Pennsylvania… My God..."

His voice cuts off as the screen suddenly turns blank; there's no signal. As my heart starts beating rapidly in my chest, I turn to Nora and frantically"We need to get to the vault! Now!"

As I rush out the door, I can see how frantic our neighbors are, some running to the vault, others hugging, knowing their time is limited. The army is blocking the entrance to Sanctuary, waving us through the forest where they've been constructing Vault 111 for the past few years.

Nora and I do as they tell us, overtaking all our neighbors, breathing heavily as we get to the bridge. At the entrance to the site of Vault 111, there's a whole crowd of screaming, crying people. "We have to get in!" one lady wails.

"Oh my god, oh my god," one man repeats over and over.

We shoulder through the crowd to the entrance. The very same salesman who sold a place to my family not that ago is in front of us. "This is absurd! I am Vault-Tec!"

"If your name isn't on the list, you aren't going in," the officer in the gateway says angrily. I can't believe they won't let someone who works for their own company in the vault. Talk about being screwed over big time.

The man puffs out his chest. "I am going in – you can't stop me!"

One of the soldiers at the entrance begins firing up his minigun and the salesman instantly backs down. As he runs away, I walk up to the man and shout, "We need to get in! We're on the list!"

The officer checks his clipboard. "Infant, adult male, adult female… okay, go ahead."

"Thank you!" Nora says. As we're hurrying what's running through my mind is, 'That could apply to anyone there.' When we pass the man into the grounds, we follow the waving soldiers. "What's going to happen to all those people outside the gate?" she asks as we run.

"We're doing everything we can!" the soldier replies. "Now move!"

"Stand on the platform, in the center!" another soldier shouts. We do as we're told, stepping onto the blue-and-yellow platform. I stare out over Sanctuary, knowing that everything is about to change – my whole life is going down the drain. The sky is bright blue, and the trees are autumn-orange, the buildings of Concord mere shadows in the distance. I find myself viewing the world as if I'm never going to see it the same way. I look at Nora and Shaun, anxious. Nora reaches for my hand and intertwines her fingers with mine, her eyes watering with tears she's refusing to shed. It's really is crazy how the government can cause this much damage and chaos in our lives. Peaceful one second and complete and utter chaos the next.

"Almost there," I say, panting. "We're gonna be okay. I love you – both of you."

"We love you too."

Just as Nora completes her sentence there's a magnificent roaring that tore across the horizon. And then the sky seems to split – I see the orange and grey of an explosion, humongous, bigger than I've ever seen. My vision turns white for a second.

"Oh my God!" Nora shrieks.

We all crouch, panting, screaming. The cloud is growing, coming closer and closer. If we don't move now we will die.

Just as it hits the edge of the compound, the lift begins moving, and we're undercover before it can simmer us into dust. We sink down into the Earth as the world above is ruined in a blast of fire and smoke and radiation. We stand on the lift while it goes down, still not believing what had just happened.

When we reach the bottom, the cage doors lift, allowing us our first view into what will be our home for a few years. Good thing I like blue since I'll have to get used to it.

There's one guard and one man in a form-fitting blue suit waiting for us, waving us out of the lift, both wearing clearly false smiles. "No need to worry, folks!" says the man. "We'll get everyone situated in your new home, Vault 111! A better future underground…"

I turn to Nora, hugging her quickly to me, making sure not to harm Shaun, consumed by my own relief at having all three of us alive and together, even if everything we've known is gone. My brother and sister… no, I can't think about them. I can't. I pull back and look down at her, clutching her face in my hands. "I love you," I say again to Nora, looking deep into her eyes.

"I love you too," she mutters. We kiss, and follow everyone else up the steps into the vault. It's dark despite the many fluorescent lights, and everywhere we walk is metal grating and platforms. A smiling, caramel-skinned woman hands both of us a blue Vault-Tec suit. "Uh… thanks. What now?" I ask, bundling it in my hands.

"Just follow the doctor here," she instructs. "He'll show you where to go."

"All right, you three," the doctor says jovially, sounding just as falsely cheerful as that salesman did earlier. "Follow me."

We follow him down a corridor, Nora and I are uncertain and wary of the space. I can hear the dripping of water and the echoing of footsteps and voices in every corridor. "See?" Nora says quietly to Shaun. "This is our new home." Shaun hasn't cried; he's silent, aware of his surroundings. Maybe this will be okay, after all. Maybe we'll all be fine.

"Oh, you'll love it here," the doctor says by means of conversation. "This is one of the most advanced vaults – not that the others aren't great, mind you."

We walk through the corridor and entered a room filled with two rows of pods facing each other. They each have a window and a control panel, and the doors are open to present padded seats. I feel uneasy seeing them. For whatever reason, my senses were telling me these were dangerous, to not step into one.

"Just step in here and put your vault suit on," the doctor tells me calmly, gesturing to a pod at the end before I hear Shaun crying. Nora tries to calm him down, saying "It'll be okay daddy's right here, see?" She then looked at me and said, "Honey, could you help me?"

I start to rub Shaun's stomach and say, "Who's my little guy? I'm not going far, I'll just be over there." He stopped crying after a minute, and when he does, I hold him while Nora changes into her vault suit, before handing him back to her so I could change into mine.

As I'm about to step into the odd capsule, however, I turn to Nora and lean my forehead against hers. "I'll be right here," I murmur. "Okay? And I love you two."

"If you keep saying that, it might start to lose its meaning," Nora jokes. But it doesn't matter, as she leans forward and kisses me one last time before I turn away from her and stepped into the capsule. The door closes me inside the cold chamber. Why do we need to be in these things? Again, I feel my senses haywire– something is wrong. Something has to be wrong.

"The pod will decontaminate and depressurize you before we head deeper into the vault. Just relax," the doctor says. I still don't understand. Why do we need to be depressurized? I look across at Nora and place my hand against the cool glass, my wedding ring clinking against it. She does the same, and I see her dark eyes sparkling with tears. "Time for a whole new life," I tell myself, not knowing just how true they were.

"Resident: secure. Occupant vitals: normal," the voice comes from inside my chamber, registering my bodily processes and heartbeat. "Procedure complete. In…"

Suddenly there seems to be cold air hissing into my pod from all directions. I flinch but don't fight it. It's freezing and burning me, and I gasped at the sensation as the temperature drops below zero less than ten seconds.

"Three…two…one…"

The glass freezes over completely, and I let my eyes close… and I drift off into the unknown.

I'm not aware of much. Only that I'm cold, that it feels like it's been a long time. How long was I out for?

"This is the one." A woman dressed in a sort of hazmat suit said as she entered my field of vision. She's pointing at Nora's pod. I banged on the window, trying to get her attention, but she doesn't seem to hear. A man, dressed in a black leather jacket with a weird metal brace, walks around to face Nora's pod, carefully assessing it. "Open it."

The woman does as she's told, pressing the button. There's a great hiss as the door to Nora's pod slides open and she coughs in the fresh air. I bang on my window again, disregarded completely. Shaun starts crying the instant he feels the temperate air, and the suited woman reaches forward and tries to take him from Nora's arms. She clings on, still coughing. I start banging frantically, trying to get out, realizing what they were doing. "No – I've got him!" Nora tells them.

"Let the boy go," the man growls, raising an object I know all too well. What's happening? Why are they taking Shaun? Why are they pointing a gun at my wife? I already sense what's going to happen as I hit harder on the window, trying to get out. Tears of frustration gathering in my eyes.

"I'm only going to tell you once," the man threatens.

"I'm not giving you Shaun!" Nora shouts.

There's a great bang, and a flash – I stop slamming on my window, shocked at what happened. I think I might pass out. I mouth Nora's name, watching as she slumps back in her seat and the woman takes my baby. Shaun. No, not him. Anything but him.

The man lowers his hand, waving the woman off. "Better get outta here. Let's go."

Before he walked out, he comes right up to my pod, peering in at me. I bang on the window, imagining smashing his face between my hands. Riveting him with bullet holes. He will die. And it will be the most painful experience of his life.

"At least we still have the backup," he says, smirking, before walking away.

I try to get out still, banging on the window, before I feel the coldness from the pod take over again, freezing me, making me pass out. All I know is that my life won't ever be the same with my wife dead and my son gone.

I don't know how long it's been. I don't know what time it is, what day it is. Heck, I don't even know what year it is. The moment I wake up again, I am gasping for air. I bang twice on the window, panting and seeing my breath create steam before me. Outside, the corridor between all the pods is empty. The mechanized voice in my chamber speaks: "Cryogenic array. Resident must vacate immediately."

The door hisses open and I stumble out, my muscles like rubber. I hit the floor hard, gasping for air with my frozen lungs. My hands clutch at an icy floor; I feel nothing. My knees impact the ground and sting. I scramble to get to Nora's pod, shuddering with unsteady breaths, and press the button on her control panel, snapping, "Come on, come on!" The door opens, and I duck under it to get to my wife faster, and when I see her, despair flashes across my face. My wife was here in front of me, dead. My son, missing. Tears slowly start falling down my face.

"I'll find who did this," I say quietly into the silence. "And get Shaun back. I promise."

Because I know the bastard who did this will die. And if I die trying, I'll make sure he goes with me. I slowly take her ring off her finger before sliding it onto my own, as a reminder of why to continue to struggle to fight.

I jog to the door, pressing the button to open it, and I'm faced with a dark, empty corridor. Just one more door to go and I'll be out of this hell-hole.

Before trying to open the door, I check the room nearby to see if there was anything that may be useful. I wanted revenge, but I knew I couldn't go taking on this world without supplies and equipment. Unfortunately, all I could find in the room were two clipboards, a coffee mug, and a new Vault Suit. I try pressing the button to the door that led to the entrance, but it seems to be jammed. Guess I'll have to take a little detour.

I grab the tools nearby before turning and going through the door on my right instead, knowing I'm not alone in this place. There are stairs; I leap down them and, through the window, see a shape move and jump out of view. What the heck was that? I grab a security baton left abandoned on a crate and head through the next door. Another corridor, and another door. I pass through both with only the intention of getting out and getting far away.

In the next room, I finally see another living thing. Knowing it wasn't human though was enough. I ran at it and slammed my foot on top of it, crushing it underneath. It dies with a screech and I lift my foot up to peer down at it, eyes wide. "Giant… roaches?" I whisper to myself. I kick at its carcass, rolling it over, and think, 'May as well see what food I can get off it.'

After collecting meat off it, I stepped into what looked like a cafeteria and looked around for anything useful. I found plenty of bottles that I filled with water from the sink. After checking the terminal and collecting a game from it, I left the room and step into the generator room. There are three more cockroaches in there. The one in the middle of the generators gets shocked by electricity before it stops moving. I walk around them, not wanting to get shocked myself, and stomp on the first of the roaches the came towards me and slammed the baton onto the back of the other one. I look at the generators and see that no more electricity is coming out of them, and quickly run out and grab the dead roach. I bring it by the other two and carefully collect what I can off them before heading to the next room where two more roaches were. Before the first one could attack I slammed the baton on it, and the other one jumped, hissing at me. Before it hit me, I dropped to the ground and kicked it into the wall, where I slammed the baton into what seemed to be its head. I collected the meat off them before heading to the next room.

Finally, I find I'm getting somewhere. I enter a room with a computer and the skeleton of a dead doctor. There's a 10mm pistol on the counter, and I pick it up along with all the ammo I can find. There's a prototype gun in the weapon room sitting in a locked case. I checked the lock and knew it was too hard, so I figured I'd come back when I could pick it. I've got no bobby pins on me, and I'm certainly no master at lock picking. I sit down at the computer and open it up. I open the evacuation tunnel and then stand up, grabbing my gun. Time to leave this place.

Before going any further, I see some roaches at the end of the tunnel and count. One, two… Six roaches, three which were larger than the other ones. Luckily I was a good shot, even if I didn't like to admit it, and crouched down. I aimed, took a deep breath, and fired. Six bullets. That's all it took to kill each of them. Hit two in the head and the other four in their bodies. I piled them on top of each other and collected meat off them.

After passing through another door, I'm back at the vault's entrance. Another two skeletons in lab coats here with one roach just sitting there. I shot it and walked carefully to the door controls, and before walking up to it, another roach crawls out from underneath the steps. Instead of shooting, my first instinct is to stomp down, which I do. I find some 10mm ammo for my gun and then walk up the steps to the controls and find something worth its money. A Pip-Boy. It's a portable computer that was still in development before the bombs fell. And not just any Pip-Boy! A Pip-Boy 3000!

I buckle it to my own wrist, letting it boot up, and then figure out how to connect it to the control panel and open the door. Standing back, I watch as the drill unscrews the giant metal vault door and rolls it off its hinges, granting me access to the platform. I hurry and run down the stairs, hurrying to leave this place.

When the lift arrives, I step onto it quickly and catch a glimpse of myself in one of the reflective panels, and notice I still look the same as before: clean-shaven, brushed-back hair, and blue eyes. The only difference now was that my eyes looked shattered like I had lost everything.

The lift hummed, and I sit down on the metal as it carries me back up to the surface. I pray that it won't be a total wasteland, that there is still some resemblance of hope. The only thing I know is that I'm going to hunt down the bastard who took my son. And when I do, he's going to hell.


	2. Chapter 2:Out of Time

The first thing that hit me is sunlight. With it being bright and unexpected, I wasn't prepared for the blinding sensation that followed. I instinctively throw my arms in front of my face, the smells and light hitting me like a truck. Once I've gotten used to the light and look around, the only thing my mind can register is shock. My home of Sanctuary Hills, once a beautiful neighborhood, lied there in ruins, four of the houses had caved in, while the rest were rusted. The once vibrant green vegetation had become dull shades of brown and yellow. The trees that were once filled with leaves now laid barren. Fortunately, it didn't look as bad as I expected. The bombs had fallen pretty far away, so the only real damage was caused by the shockwave created by the explosion. I stare, not wanting to believe this had happened. The roads that were once paved and black, now lay cracked and upturned, changed to a dull gray.

"Welcome to my new life," I thought out loud before turning around to head down the hill. Stumbling, I approached the guard post that overlooked the vault entrance, walking around the skeleton and looked inside. When I looked inside the first aid kit on the wall, I found some Antibiotics and Rad-X inside it. There was also some Radaway on the table beside it so I picked that up. I then began to walk down the path and found a military bag in one of the crates nearby and put what junk and supplies I had in it. As I walked down the path, past the skeletons in ragged clothing, I only thought about how the last time I was here, I was walking up the hill with my wife and son. Now all I have to remember that day were two wedding rings.

I am the sole survivor of the vault. The lone wanderer? Nah, I doubt I'll be traveling alone for a long time. Have to be other people out there. Whether they were nice and friendly was a whole other story.

I look at the map on my pip-boy and notice that Sanctuary is marked on it. The moment I walk in, it beeps, and when I walk into the road and look towards my house, a look of shock crosses my face.

Codsworth? I almost begin to jog towards him, until my senses start to go off. Before walking to Codsworth, I check the other houses to be sure there aren't any undesirables nearby. There were four giant roaches, I think I'll call them radroaches from now on, and six giant flies. It took two bullets to kill one of the flies, but the rest of them and the roaches only took one, so ten bullets in all. I felt like in increased my senses more, but that could just be my imagination. After checking the rest of Sanctuary and walk to Codsworth.

"Codsworth?" I say, still not believing it's him.

"As I live and breathe… It's… It's REALLY you!" Codsworth said happy to see me.

"Codsworth? You're… Still here. So… other people could still be alive too…" I said, still surprised he had survived this long.

"Well, of course, I'm still here. Surely you don't think a little radiation could deter the pride of General Atomics International?" Codsworth told me proudly. I suppose that was dumb of me to think. "But you seem the worse for wear. Best not let the wife see you in that state. Where is the missus by the way?"

Another knot in my stomach as I remember what happened to her, knowing I'll never get to see or hold her in my arms again. I don't know why he's asking, and I feel like his circuits have been fried since he doesn't seem to notice anything's changed.

"She's… in a better place,' I told him as I remember what happened.

"Sir... these things you're saying… These… terrible things… I believe you need a distraction. It's been ages since we've had a proper family activity. Checkers or Charades, perhaps? Shaun does love that game! Where is the young lad by the way?" Codsworth asked me.

I took a deep breath so I wouldn't snap, counted to ten, before saying, "Shaun's been kidnapped. But I'm going to find him. I'm going to get my son back."

"It's worse than I thought. Hmm hmm. You're suffering from… hunger-induced paranoia. Not eating properly for two hundred years will do that, I'm afraid."

I sighed before saying, "It doesn't matter how long it's been. I feel fine."

"A bit over two hundred ten, actually sir. Give or take the Earth's rotation and some minor dings to the old chronometer," Codswroth told me before chuckling. "That means you're two centuries late for dinner! Hahaha. Perhaps I can whip you up a snack? You must be famished."

I noticed he wasn't saying everything, and said, "Codsworth, you're acting… a little bit weird. What's wrong?"

"I… I…Oh, sir, it's been just horrible! Two centuries with no one to talk to, no one to serve," Codsworth told me, breaking down into metaphorical tears as he told me what happened. "I spent the first ten years trying to keep the floor waxed, but nothing gets out nuclear fallout from vinyl wood. Nothing! And don't get me started about the futility of dusting a collapsed house. And the car! How do you polish rust?"

"Stay with me, pal. Focus," I told him as I tried to calm him down.

"I'm afraid I don't know anything, sir. The bombs came, and all of you left in such a hurry. I thought for certain you and your family were… dead" He told me before sniffing. "I did find this holotape. I believe the missus was going to present it to you. As a surprise. But then, well… everything 'happened.'" When I accepted the holotape from him, I looked at it and saw she had written 'Hi Honey!' on it.

"Thank you, Codsworth," I tell him, glad I have something to remember her voice.

Codsworth sniffed before saying "You're welcome." He then perked up and said "Now, enough feeling sorry for myself. Shall we search the neighborhood together? The missus and young Shaun may turn up yet?"

I frown as I say "Codsworth, I already looked. They're not here."

"Then… They're really gone, aren't they? Oh, sir…"

"Shaun's out there, Codsworth. I need to find him," I remind him, a frown still upon my face.

"What about Concord, sir? Plenty of people there. And last I checked, they only pummeled me with sticks a few time before I had to run back home."

"Thanks for your help, Codsworth," I tell him. "Before I head there though, mind helping me clean up Sanctuary?"

"Of course, sir. We don't want anyone thinking we live in a dump now, would we?"

After we finished our conversation, we started to walk around Sanctuary and start collecting all the junk and putting it into a pile and scavenging for parts. There are few things we didn't scrap for parts though, like the workbenches. I knew I would need these to fix up armor and weapons, as well as cook food and try a hand at making explosives.

While we were searching through one of the houses, I found a pair of pants and a General Atomics T-shirt. I stored them away until I finished cleaning up Sanctuary. At one point I had to stop to eat some of the radroach I had collected after cooking it, and thought, 'Not bad, not great, better than nothing.' After I finished eating it, I got back to work. I found a chemistry workbench behind one of the houses and pushed it to the street before going back to scavenging the rest of Sanctuary for scrap and junk. When it started getting dark out, I tweaked around in the settings of the pip-boy, before finding the one to change the color of the screen. I changed to white and put it on flashlight mode.

When we got to my old house, I made sure that anything here that was usable was stored. When I saw our Grognak comic book from before the war, I couldn't help but pick it up, plop my butt onto our couch, and read it. As I was reading it, I looked at the way Grognak swung his ax. When I was done reading it, I went to the back of the house and walked into Shaun's room. I started searching through everything after pushing his crib into the corner of the room and found his S.P.E.C.I.A.L book underneath his dresser. When I picked it up, I pocketed it away and continued scrounging around for parts. When we finished cleaning up the house, Codsworth and I looked through the materials we had and managed to make a bed that I could rest on. When we finished putting it together, I laid down on it and closed my eyes. All in all, it took about two days to clean up Sanctuary, and a third to clean up the house.

When we finished cleaning, I grabbed the pants and General Atomics T-Shirt, and went into the house and changed out of the Vault Suit and into the clothes. I folded the suit and put it into a dresser I had fixed up with some wood and steel, before grabbing my bag with food and water in it, and started to head to Concord after telling Codsworth I'd see him by the end of the day. Now that Sanctuary is cleaned up, I was ready to start wreaking havoc on the Commonwealth, and have a fun time doing it.

When I found the Red Rocket Truck Stop, I don't know what I was expecting. Certainly not a German Shepard that friendly and adorable.

"Hey, boy. What are you doing out here all by yourself," I ask it as it approached me, smiling at it to assure it. I then bent down and began rubbing the side of its face. "You lose your owner buddy?" When I stood back up, it began to whimper, like it wanted more attention. "Okay then, let's stick together." Before I could move though, I felt my instincts tell me there was something dangerous nearby, and I pulled out the 10mm from the vault. Suddenly, giant rats start to pop up from the ground, like they were moles. Huh, molerats? That's a catchy name. That'll be their name from now on. I didn't have time to count them though as I aimed at each of them and shot them. It took two shots for two of them and the rest only took one.

"Fucking shit," I mutter angrily. "Only day four in this world and its already throwing things like this my way." I notice the dog looking at me with puppy dog eyes and say, "Don't worry bud. I'll be fine, just frustrated." When I walk inside the truck stop, another one of the molerats must've missed it, cam running behind me, trying to bite my leg off. Before it could, I kicked it into the wall. Before it could get back up, I ran over to it and began stomping on its head. No point in wasting ammo on it. After that, I collected whatever meat I could off it, and went and did the same to the other ones. After checking the place for supplies and cooking the meat I had, began walking to Concord again. After killing two giant mosquito's, better to call them bloodbug's now and checking some houses nearby, I hear the popping and cracking of gunfire near the Museum of Freedom. Before heading to it though, I put on some welding goggles and a bandana I found in one of the buildings. Don't want anyone I don't like to know who I am just yet.

As I approach the gunfight, I crouch down to sneak upon them, and the dog does the same. When I see one of them, I aim my gun, take a deep breath, and shoot. The bullet sails through the air and meets its mark, hitting what I can assume to be a raider in the head. He goes down, and before the other two I can see notice me, I quickly aim my gun towards another one and aim the gun at him, take another deep breath, and fire the gun. The bullet almost misses, but fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, the dog had run up and stopped the raider from moving. The other one had noticed I was there at this point and aimed his gun to shoot at me. Before he could pull the trigger, I shoot three rounds into his chest, making him fall like a noodle. I about put my gun away before I feel something behind me, and without looking back, I aim the gun behind me and shoot at what was approaching from behind. I heard something fall to the ground, and when I looked, I saw I had shot a person who was about to shoot me with a sawed-off shotgun. Can't say it surprised me. I check their bodies for loot, and just leave the bodies in their underwear, sticking the supplies I got from them in my bag.

I look up and see a man wearing a colonial duster and cowboy hat. He frantically yells, "I've got a group of settlers inside! The raiders are just outside the door! Grab that laser musket and help us, please!"

Without even thinking, I look for what he's talking about before realizing it's right in front of the door, and head inside.

As soon as I get in, I run to a side room and try to listen to how many raiders there are. From what I can tell, there was one on the first floor and three on the second and third. I walk through the rooms, and the first raider I see I instinctively aim my gun at her and fired two rounds two her chest. Should've worn chest armor. Before I can head out of the room, someone shot at the doorway and hit me in the arm.

I grunted before getting back behind the wall, and took the bag off my back and searched it for a stimpak. As soon as I found it, I jammed the thing into my arm and felt it healing the wound. Just to be sure though, I took out the raider leathers I had taken off the dead people outside and ripped them into strips. I folded one into a pad and place it on my arm, then began to use another strip to wrap it. I sat there for a minute while I regained my energy. Stimpaks may make our wounds heal faster, but it came at the cost of our energy. After feeling more energized, I got back up while crouching down and looked around the corner. Luckily it seemed they had forgotten about me, so I pulled out my pistol again and crouched up the stairs.

The first person I came across, who was on the walkway in the middle, got a bullet to his head. The next two were in a room beside where he was, and there was a gas canister there. Unfortunately, it only got one of them, so I had to shoot the other one in the head. Why do they make me waste bullets on them? Well, they don't make me, but if I don't want to die I do. I walked up the stairs that lead to the final three. There's one behind the door, using the wall for cover. Sneak up behind him, and instead of shooting, I grab his head and twist his neck violently, hearing it snap when it breaks. The next one was on the broken path in the middle of the giant room, and for him, I just took out my gun and fired a round into her head. Before I can rest though, I put the gun away and pull out my switchblade and stab it into the neck of the man who had been trying to sneak up on me from the room behind me.

Before I head to the people I helped though, I knew there was a fusion core, and while I may not have needed it, it was a nice thing to collect, like teddy bears and flags. After I got it, I walked back up to the third floor and approached the cowboy.

As I approached him he said, "Man, I don't know who you are, but your timing is impeccable. Preston Garvey, Commonwealth Minutemen."

I looked him up and down, before deciding I could trust him, and pulled down the bandana and lifted the goggles. "Glad to help," I told him with a smile on my face.

"Well if that's true, we could use more goodwill. As you can see, we're in a bit of a mess here," Garvey said. When I looked around, I noticed that there were four people here. I wasn't surprised by their expressions. They looked wary of me, and why shouldn't they? I had just taken on these raiders that were giving this guy trouble, and all I had to show for it was a bullet wound to my arm. I knew I should've found some armor.

"The world's changed so much," I started. "None of this makes sense."

"You alright? Listen. We need your help. And then maybe we can help you, huh? What brought you out here?"

'My robot butler,' I thought irritated. I decided to keep that to myself though and said: "Who's around that can find a missing person?"

"Used to have a few good trackers in this group. Not many now," Garvey said, a distant look in his eyes. The buff guy behind him, someone who looked nice and useful, said "hey." It brought Garvey back to his senses, and he continued from where he left.

"A month ago, there were twenty of us. Yesterday, there were eight. Now we're five. First, it was the ghouls in Lexington, and now this mess." Garvey said, clearly frustrated with the situation.

"Sorry, sounds rough," I told him offering my sympathy.

"Thanks. It's… good to meet someone who really cares. Anyway, we thought Concord would be a safe place to settle. Those raiders proved us wrong. But… well, we do have one idea."

"One good idea can make all the difference," I told him, keeping a smile on my face to assure him everything was alright.

"Sturges. Tell him," Garvey said before gesturing to the buff man from before.

"Hey, buff man," I say happily.

"Hey, hero man," Sturges said smiling back. "There's a crashed vertibird up on the roof. Old school. Pre-war. You might've seen it. Well, looks like one of its passengers left behind a seriously sweet goodie: we're talking a full suit of cherry T-45 power armor, military issue."

"That's some serious protection," I said while whistling.

"Oh, it gets better. Get the suit, you can rip the minigun right off that vertibird. Do that, and those raiders get an express ticket to Hell. You dig?"

"Huh, could work," I told him. "We just need to power it up."

"That's the problem," Sturges said frustrated. "It outta juice. Probably has been for a hundred years. It can be powered up again, but we're a bit stuck."

"If it's about the fusion core, I already grabbed it. We're all set to go," I told them as my smile grew.

"Well all right," Garvey said, happy. "Maybe our luck's finally turning around. Once you jack the core into the Power Armor and grab that minigun, those raiders'll know they picked the wrong fight. Good luck."

Before I headed out, I sat on the couch beside the old lady to replenish my energy.

"Careful kid," She said eerily. "There's something comin'. And its… angry."

"Ma'am?" I ask as I look at her in surprise. This old lady could see the future? A little weird but okay, not the craziest thing I've seen since waking up.

"You're not what I expected Dogmeat would find in that little neighborhood. But oh, so much better." That's… nice to know. At least she won't be biting my head off now.

"He's a good dog," I told her cheerfully. "Smart, too."

"Oh, indeed," she agreed. "Dogmeat's good at finding folks who need him, and he'll stick by you now. I saw it."

"You 'saw' it?" I ask, weirded by the way she phrased it.

"It's the chems, kid. The give ole Mama Murphy the 'Sight.' Been that way for as long as I can remember," the old lady, now identified as Mama Murphy explained to me.

I was impressed by this, even if she did use drugs, and said: "That's incredible."

"I can see a bit of what was, and what will be. And even what is, right now,`` she told me, her voice becoming eerie. "And right now, I can see there's something coming. Drawn by the noise and the chaos. And it is… angry."

What the heck is she talking about? Surely the world doesn't want to screw me over this early? Not before I've found my son? "What is it? Mama Murphy, I need more. Please," I say, begging her for what she knows."

"I'm sorry, kid. But I just don't know. The sight isn't always clear. But believe me when I tell you it ain't a raider,' she tells me fearfully. "Ah, I'm tired, now. And if I ain't mistaken, you've got a job to do…"

After that, I sigh and sit there while petting Dogmeat. As I look at him, I can't help but notice that despite only knowing him for a day, I would already put my life on the line for him. After an hour, I get off my lazy butt, and head to the roof. As I walk by the woman in the flannel, she says angrily, "We can't just stay trapped in here. This is ridiculous. Somebody do something."

"Well, would you look at that," I say, stopping before walking out. "A lazy chienne won't do anything and expect others to do something in return. That's nice."

There was one thing I had always disliked severely before the war, and that was people who were too lazy to get off their butts and expected others to help them. Before she could respond, I proceeded to leave the room and rushed to the roof. Before I get into the power armor though, I sit down at the desk that's on the roof and drink some water I had been carrying. I was thirsty, though it didn't help that I hadn't drunk any water the previous day. While I sat there and waited for all my vitals and heartbeat return back to normal, I decided to see the features Pip-Boy had.

Besides the map, it had an inventory tab where it kept track of what I was carrying, including the weapon I carry and the clothes I wear. Sweet! When I looked in the Radio Tab, I saw a distress beacon, but figured I couldn't do anything about it right now, and turned on the Classical Radio. I don't know why, but this, music always seemed to calm my nerves when I was fighting.

There was a tab that also seemed to mark the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats that the Army and Vault-Tec kept track of, and noticed that while everything else remained the same, my perception seemed to have gone up from a six to an eleven. I didn't even know it was possible to get an eleven out of ten on that. Oh well, guess I've got the senses of an animal now. Once I was done checking out the features, I stood up and walked to the power armor, which was only a few feet away.

When I checked the condition of the armor pieces, I could tell the right leg and left arm were damaged severely, but the rest of it would work fine. I would've taken the armor pieces off that were damaged, but if I did, I wouldn't be able to walk or run in the fight that was coming. After putting in the fusion core, I opened the back of it and stepped into the frame. I raised my head into the helmet, with it resting on the shoulders of the armor, and fit my arms and legs into the, well, the arms and leg of the frame. After pushing a button in the fingertips of the armor, it closes behind me, When it does, I do a few experimental swing of the arms and move around the legs. It doesn't seem like it rusted all that much, but I should have expected that since it had armor on the top of it. After I got done testing it, I walked over to the vertibird and ripped the minigun off its stand, then dropped some crude guns I had picked up so I could run. I then ran to the edge of the roof, where I saw a raider on the roof of the building across the street, three more further down the street, and another one on the second floor in the building beside them. There were probably more, but I didn't have time to dwell on that as I shot two rounds into the one across from me, before leaping down onto the street. I didn't give the other four a chance as I fired a round into two of the raiders down the street, and when I shot the third one, I could tell by the way he didn't die from a shot to the head that he could take damage. So I pulled the minigun out and opened fire on him. When he went down, I put the minigun away and put my pistol away. More raiders came from around the corner, but I didn't care. I remembered what Mama Murphy had said, and when I saw the grate to the sewers get hit up from something underneath, I ran into the building with the one raider. I ran up the stairs so I could see what it was, and before the raider on the top floor could so anything, I slammed the shoulder of the power armor into her and knocked her onto the street. What came next scared the living crap out of me.

A giant lizard that looked like the ones that scientists had been experimenting on before the war had come out, with claws that looked like they could rip you to shreds, and with jagged teeth, each the length of my arms and ending in points.

"Screw this world," I say out loud and pull out the minigun again. Before I start firing though, I let it make quick work of the other raiders. If it died, so be it, at least I won't have to fight it. If it lives, it makes it easier to kill. When it was done tearing apart the last of the raiders, I aim the minigun at it before my blood runs cold. Before I even have the chance to open fire, it swings its claws and hits Dogmeat into the side of the building I'm in. My vision turns red as I open fire, not even caring whether I die at this point.

"You hit my dog!" I yell, a look of anger evident on my face. "Go back to whatever hell you came from!" After I fired an entire clip into the monster, I reloaded it and started firing again. How many bullets did it take to kill this damn thing? The overgrown lizard didn't even have time to move as I gave it hell, not letting up the bullet barrage that was hitting it. When I had unloaded half the clip into it, it finally fell, but that didn't stop me. The damn thing hurt my dog. I didn't release the trigger until it was dry, and even then I bashed the barrel of it into its skull. After I'm done with my… issues, I rush over and check on Dogmeat, pulling out a stimpak as I approach him. Fortunately, it doesn't seem like he's been hurt too badly, but I do notice he is limping. I use the stimpak on him, and start to head back to the museum. As I do, I check the nearby bodies for any loot and find some armor and ammo on them, as well as four stimpaks. Sweet, that makes fifteen stimpaks! After I'm done looting the bodies I run and head inside the museum, where I step out of the armor and go talk to Garvey.

As I approach him, I put a smile on my face and he says, "That was a pretty amazing display. I'm just glad you're on our side."

It's clear he's impressed, although I don't know why, and look at everyone here.

"You guys gonna be okay now?" I ask, concerned that they'll need help.

"Yeah, for a while anyway. We can at least move someplace safer," Preston said with relief as he lowered his musket. "Listen, when we first met, when you said you were glad to help, well you did, and we owe you our lives. So here. It's not much, but it's the best way I can say thank you."

Garvey then handed me some bottlecaps for some reason and fusion cells.

"You're welcome," I told him happily. "Anytime."

"Well, since you say that, maybe you'll come to Sanctuary with us," Garvey offered with a smile. "We could use your help getting settled there."

"Actually, I already live there. I'll meet you guys there."

"Oh, that's wonderful,' Mama Murphy said. "But there's more to your destiny, isn't there? I've seen it. And I know your pain."

"Please, tell me," I said, pleading for her help. "I need to know."

"You're a man out of time. Out of hope. But all's not lost. I can feel... your son's energy. He's alive," She told me cryptically.

"I knew it!" I said excitedly. "Please tell me where he is! I need to find my son."

"I can't see him," Mamma Murphy told me sadly. "But I feel his life force. He's out there. And even I don't need the sight to tell you where to start lookin'. The great green jewel of the Commonwealth. Diamond City. The biggest settlement around."

"Please, Mamma Murphy. I'm working from nothing. I need more," I asked her, clearly upset.

"Look, kid, I'm tired now. Maybe you bring me some chems later, the sight will paint a clearer picture."

Garvey interrupted us and said "No! Mama Murphy, we talked about this. That junk… It's going to kill you."

"Oh shush Preston. We're all gonna die eventually. We're gonna need the sight. And our new friend here, he's gonna need it too," Mama Murphy said as she scolded Garvey. "Now let's get goin'. Sanctuary awaits."

"Alright folks," Garvey addressed the group. "Thanks to our friend here, it's safe to move out. We're headed to that place Mama Murphy knows about: Sanctuary. It's not far."

"She knows about it? You mean she had one of her 'visions' while she was stoned out of her gourd. And now you want us to head out on another wild goose chase based on no better plan than 'Mama Murphy saw it'?" The one I'm going to call brat complained.

"It can hardly turn out worse than-" Garvey began but was interrupted by Sturges.

"Hold on, hold on. Everybody just take it easy. We're all in this together, right?" Sturges asked them. "So, Marcy. You got a better idea of what we should do next?"

After a moment of silence, Sturges said "Anybody?"

When no one said anything, he said, "Well then, Sanctuary it is. Let's just hope it lives up to its name."

After that, I went and got back into the power armor and started walking back to Sanctuary.


	3. Chapter 3: The First Step

When I get back to Sanctuary, the first thing I do is take the suit of Power Armor and set it up in the station for it that Codsworth and I had moved to my driveway. When I got out, I couldn't run, the weight of the junk and weapons I was carrying slowing me down. I dropped all the junk in front of the house for Codsworth to dismantle for scrap and went into the house to sort through the rest of the items I got. While I did get armor, it was all leather, so it wouldn't be useful against bullets flying at me. Still, it was better than nothing. I had managed to collect a full set of armor, even if it wasn't the best, and set it on the bed so I could find something I could wear under it. After looking at the clothing I had acquired, I decided to wear what I had gotten off the man in front of the museum. After putting the clothing and armor on, I went and talked to Codsworth.

"Hey, Codsworth…" I say as I'm walking out the door, a smile on my face.

"Mister Black," Codsworth said greeting me happily. "Welcome back sir! I do hope you were able to find some assistance in Concord."

"You could say that. I made a few new friends," I told him cheerfully.

"Can't have enough of those these days," he responded. "I realize that I'm no Mr. Gutsy, but if needed, I'd be honored to accompany you throughout the Commonwealth. Just say the word!"

"Yes, of course," I tell him happily, wanting to see what it's like traveling with a robot.

"As you wish sir," Codsworth said before Dogmeat started whimpering behind them. "Not to worry there, pup. Your master is in good hands," Codsworth said, reassuring Dogmeat. When Dogmeat came up to me, I reached down and pet him.

"For now, just stay here in Sanctuary," I said. "And don't worry bud. Maybe I'll find you a friend out there." Dog meat barked before he walked around Sanctuary.

"Hey, Codsworth, I need your help making mattresses and a doghouse," I said, knowing the new settlers from Concord would want someplace to sleep.

"Of course sir."

As I collected cloth from the storage, Codsworth collected wood and steel. And even though it took us a few hours, we were able to make five beds for them, and after putting them in the house across the street from mine, built a doghouse for Dogmeat and a second one just to be safe. After that, I walked out and smiled as I saw them coming up. It took them a while, firstly due to Mama Murphy's age, and that I ran here instead of walked. As I walked up to Preston he greeted me.

"Hey, it's good to see you again. I was hoping you'd show up," Garvey greeted me brightly. "I should've listened to Mama Murphy all along. Pretty nice place you've got set up here. Do you think we can settle down here, make it a place to call home?"

"Of course," I told him. "I'd have to be a jackass to kick you out of this place when there's more than enough room for all of us. It's just… strange being back here. It was nice living here before the war."

"What do you mean? Before what war? Are you saying…"

I took a deep breath and released it slowly before answering. "I lived here… over two hundred years ago. I was… frozen or something for most of it. Just woke up a little while ago."

"Damn, like one of those old pre-war ghouls," Garvey said, astonished by what I told him. "You say you were frozen… Anybody else make it out with you?"

"Just my son," I told him sadly."Somebody took him away while I was still trapped. Have you come across anyone with a baby boy?"

"Damn, I'm sorry. But… no, I haven't run across any kidnapped babies. I'll definitely keep an eye out for him," Garvey said, reassuring me that he had my back. "Anyway… I am glad your here. And I hope you don't mind, but I've got another favor to ask."

Garvey paused to see if I would accept before I said: "Continue."

"I've had word of a settlement asking for help. They're still hoping Minutemen are out there, somewhere," Garvey told me, and I smiled since I knew these people would need help. "The only chance to start rebuilding the Minutemen is to show people they can count on us when they need it. Trouble is, I've got my hands full here. Do you think you could go help out the settlement?"

"Not only would I be glad to, but I'll also have fun kicking and shooting whatever gets in my way of doing so," I told him playfully.

"That's fantastic. The Minutemen could use more people like you. By the way, if you want to help out around here at all, talk to Sturges. I'm sure he'd be glad for all the help he can get." After that, I told Garvey I'd see him around, and went to talk to Sturges.

"Hey, buff man," I called out as I approached him.

"You willin' to do some work?" he asked me as he turned around.

"Of course, just tell me what you need help with," I reply.

"Well, you've already made some beds. I like it. Giving everyone a place to sleep will improve all our spirits. What we need now is a reliable source of clean water," Sturges told me.

"I've already made a few water pumps," I told him happily. "I figured if we're going to start a settlement, we'll need clean water."

"I feel better already then, knowing we have a reliable source of clean water," Sturges replied joyfully. "Now I hope you don't mind me asking for some more help… but our food supplies are running low. If we're going to settle here, we'll need to get some crops established."

"I'll start planting right away," I told him before walking off to see what food I could plant. I remember that there were some melons and a gourd behind the house with their beds in it, and saw Marcy tending to them. I walked up to them and plucked the crops off their stems, making sure not to destroy the roots. After that, I took them back to my house and cut them open, looking for the seeds in them. I only found two in the gourd and four in one of the melons and five in the other. After I finished cleaning off the seeds, I took them out back and handed them to Marcy.

"Here," I said as I gave them to her. "More seeds for you to plant. We can't all starve, now can we?"

After that, I walk back to Sturges, who says, "This place is starting to feel like home. Now that we can grow our own food, I think we can really make a go of this. Trouble is, the more we establish ourselves here, the more of a target we become. What we need is to get some defenses set up. Then maybe Preston will be able to relax a little bit."

"I'll need your help with that, but I'll get it done," I told him knowing I would need help if it was to be done by the end of the week.

Sturges smirked and said, "Thanks, we'll make sure everyone feels more secure here."

After that, he started collecting the wood, steel, cloth, and nails we would need from the storage, While I grabbed some string to mark the areas we would be working in. The first spot was obvious, and that was the road between my house and the bunkhouse. Then the area from the hedge behind the bunkhouse to the corner of the standing house next to it. After that, we cleared the two caved in houses at the end of the cul de sac and made sure to mark those foundations for later projects. Then after that. It was a matter of filling the gaps between the house from my house to the foundations. In the end, we made a total of ten guard posts, each for one person to stand guard at. It took us five days, and when we were done, I told Sturges and Jun to be guards. Sturges stood at the front one while Jun stood in one in the back.

Sturges smiled as I came up to him and said "I feel better at night knowing we have some defenses set up. It's been a long road, but... yeah. I think this is it. Home. Feels good."

"I was glad to help," I told him. "Didn't want my home to be a crap hole.

"Well, I appreciate it. Of course, you know my door is always open to you. I better get back to it. You take care now." After that Sturges went back to his post while I went into my house and grabbed some supplies. I looked at the mark on my pip-boy and saw that I had what was probably a two to three-day walk. And that was in a straight line. I grabbed what little food I had and stuck it in my bag, as well as nine bottles of water.

After I put the bag on, I told Codsworth it was time to move out and started walking. I decided to follow the road and walked through Concord again. It was quiet, and I wasn't surprised. A gunfight had taken place here not even a week ago. As I was exiting the area, I looked off to the right of the road where a truck from before the war had crashed and saw three raiders there. I pulled out my pistol and shot at the closest one. It hit them in the leg, which caused them to notice me. Before they could do anything though, I fired another shot at the raider, and this time the bullet hit him in the head. The other two finally did something, but at that point, it was too late. Codsworth had gone after one of them, while I went after the other. This raider had a tire iron, so I put my gun away and pulled out my switchblade. When he swung the tire iron at me, I turned my body to the right, causing it to miss, and I thrust my blade into the woman's stomach. Before she could even comprehend what had happened, I pulled the blade out of her, flipped it around, and stabbed her right in the eye.

"You… bastard…" she managed to say before she fell to the ground, dead.

"I may be a bastard," I said with a smirk on my face as I grabbed my blade then used a piece of her cloth to wipe off the blood. "But I'm a bastard who killed you."

After that, I turned to Codsworth who had finished the third raider and said, "Check these raiders for anything. I'm going to look around here real quick and see if there's anything useful."

"Of course, Mr. Black." After that, I looked around and saw a giant crab and two dead settlers on the ground. When I got to the settler I noticed one had a flannel shirt.

"Score!" I excitedly said. "A flannel!" After that, I took the flannel off the man and fold it before putting it in my bag. "This is awesome!" I then stand up and start my weird dance while singing. "I found a flannel, and now it's mine! I found a flannel, and now it's mine! Whose flannel? My flannel! Whose flannel? My flannel!" After that, I stopped dancing and walk to Codsworth. "Find anything useful?"

"Of course, sir," Codsworth says as he handed me two stimpaks and some ammo.

"Nice, I'm guessing you're holding the guns and armor?"

"Only so you don't get slowed down sir."

"Thanks, Codsworth. You know, I think I'm going to enjoy traveling with you."

After that, I found a mattress on the ground and sat on it. After searching through my bag, I pulled out three things: A clipboard, some paper, and a pencil. After sharpening the pencil with my switchblade, I picked up the clipboard, and place the paper on top of it, and began to write.

"What are you doing, sir?" Codsworth asked, curious at what I was doing.

"Writing about my journey to find Shaun," I told him happily. "He may ask one day how I got to where I'll be in life, and when he does, I'll have it all written down. Better than trying to remember it all."

."Good idea sir," Codsworth said joyfully. "People do forget things as time passes."

After that, we just sat there, or in Codsworth case floated, for a while, until the stars were out. By the time I finished, I had written everything that happened from the day the bombs fell to today and made sure to put it neatly into my bag. I took off my armor and laid on the mattress and said, "Codsworth, if anyone hostile come nearby, wake me up, would you?"

"Of course sir," He said as I closed my eyes and rested.

When I woke up, the sun was still rising, with it just barely peeking over the horizon. I sat up and rubbed the back of my neck. I should start carrying a pillow for these long nights. I look to Codsworth and see him hovering around, just roaming the area.

"Hey Codsworth," I say as I stretch my arms and legs. "You ready to head out?"

"Of course, sir," Codsworth said joyfully. As we're walking down the road, we come across the old Thicket Excavations. I was about to head that way, but something tells me I shouldn't, so I keep going straight down the road. I look down at the map on my Pip-Boy and see that I'll have to walk off the road to get to the place. When I come up to the place, I take a look at my map to see the name of it. Tenpines Bluff. When I look over the place I see that while it's not the ideal place for a settlement, it has plenty of land that can be used for farming. I walk up to the shack that's on a hill overlooking the area before someone says "What do you want? We don't need any more trouble around here."

I look at who it is and see it's a female that doesn't look much older than me, probably in her thirties. I put a smile on my face and say, "It's okay. I'm with the Minutemen. I'm here to help."

"You're with the Minutemen?" She asks, skeptically. "I didn't think you fellas still existed. We sent words with one of the passing traders, but honestly, I never expected anything to come of it. Most people don't put much stock in the Minutemen these days, after Quincy. Bad business, that."

"Is there something you need my help with?" I ask her, not surprised since it seemed Garvey was the last one.

"Oh, yeah," she said relieved, "I'm damn glad you're here. There's a raider gang that's been giving us trouble for weeks. Stealing food and supplies, threatening to kill us all if we don't pony up."

"That sounds bad, but nothing I can't handle," I told her, assuring I could handle it.

"Well we know where they're coming from, but we can't go against a gang like that."

I smirked at her before saying, "I'll kick their asses for you. No problem."

"Thanks, friend," the settler said gratefully as she marked where they were on my map. "If you folks are for real this time, it'll be a welcome change for the better."

After that, I turned around and headed to the tomatoes they were growing. I grabbed one from each thing since we needed all the food we could get. When I looked at where the raiders were, I chuckled a bit.

Corvega Assembly Plant.

A place like that would plenty of junk, especially aluminum, that could be used for scrap.

I start to head in that general direction, making sure to walk down the mountain carefully. Didn't want to break an ankle. When I got to the bottom, I walked around and looked for a road, before finding one near a dead molerat. When I searched it, I got two bottle caps and some meat and put them in my bag. As I'm walking down the road and come to a turn, I ran into two bloodbugs and some mongrels that were fighting. Needless to say that the mongrels won since they had an advantage in numbers.

"Hey, Codsworth," I say, getting ready to fight the dogs as I pulled out my switchblade. "Get ready for a fight."

Before Codsworth can say anything, one of the mongrels leaps at me. Before it can bite me though, I thrust my blade into its jaw, forcing it to shut. Before it hits the ground, I use my other hand to grab the top of its head and slam it down before twisting it violently. Its friend bites my leg, but not too deep to cripple it.

"Get off!" I yelled while kicking it in the face. It lets go, and I slam my blade into the top of its skull while it was stunned. I turned and saw that Codsworth had taken care of the last one like he had with the raider the previous day. "Thanks, Codsworth."

"No problem, sir," Codsworth says. I may love the robot, but I wish he would say something else besides you're welcome or no problem. Guess there's no way to fix that.

As we come upon another turn, I see a woman with a blue flannel and jacket on and approach her.

"I carry the highest quality alternative medicine products you can find in the Commonwealth today. Interested?" she asked as I walked up to her.

"So you're a doctor," I ask since that is what she seems to be. Most people don't exactly offer alternative forms of medicine.

"No, I'm not a doctor," she says, shooting down that idea. "Traditional medicine is adequate if that's all you have, but I offer something much, much better."

I almost say something, but she continues before I can.

"Traditional medicine cures you today. Alternative medicine can improve your overall health and vitality forever. It's true. Trust me. Use my healing preparations often enough and you will see an improvement in your overall health." She reminds me of a pre-war salesman. All preppy and nice. "Got a little question for you, Say you find a little kid in a cave. He's all alone, hasn't eaten in days. Scared to death. When you walk up to him, you can see he has a nice little collection of stolen goods. What do you do?"

I think about what I would do for a minute before saying, "I would lead the boy to safety, then hand him over to whoever is in charge."

"Hmm. Sounds like something a synth might say, sympathetic instead of irritated." What the hell is a synth? Before I can ask, she says, "But my gut tells me you're human. Where are you headed?"

"Tracking a murderer," I tell her, clearly angry. "The bastard who shot my wife. Took my son. I don't even have a clue who he is or where he's gone."

"Bet you a hundred caps the Institute was behind it. Their synths are a fucking plague on the Commonwealth," She says without dropping her cheerful attitude. "I'll help you track him if you want. I'd love nothing better than to bag one of those murdering, kidnapping sons of bitches."

"The Institute? Who are they?" I ask not knowing since I had only woken up a little over a week ago.

"Nobody knows," she says. "What we do know is they send robot's in the Commonwealth to fuck with us." Why would anyone do that? What's the point of it.

"I need a partner," She continues before I can say anything. "Someone to watch my back. I'll give you a discount on my products and two hundred caps if you join me. I need to get off the caravan trail and I need to… do something else. And, you know, you hear about all this cool stuff in the Commonwealth, but when all you do is bust your ass on the road, you never see it."

"Why would you trust me?" I ask her, surprised at her offer. "A stranger."

"My only other option is a Caravan Guard," she answers, still in her cheerful voice. "And every time one opens his mouth to say something, a complaint falls out. Not that desperate yet. So, will you take my offer? Team up with me?"

I sigh, and say, "Give me the details."

"There's not much to tell," she admits. "The names Casdin. Heather Casdin. Been on the road my whole life. Been training my whole life. If something's going on in the Commonwealth, I know about it. Traders love to gossip."

"I have a newspaper article for you to read," she says as she hands me a newspaper. "I don't want to talk about it, but it's true. Someone did get out and it was me. Thought you might like to know why I'm so trigger happy around synths."

I'm about to turn to keep heading to Corvega since it seems she'll be following from now despite how she worded that. But before I can, she stops me and handed me what looks like a distress beacon.

"Oh, one more thing. I've got a transponder for you to carry. Flick it on, and I'll be able to track you if we get separated. That's it. That's all I've got."

After that, we head to the graveyard nearby, and while I'm looking around the base of the tree, I find a magazine that has a code for hacking turrets. That could be useful. After checking the rest of the graveyard, at one point encountering a raider as I left the mausoleum. Heather made quick work of her though, which made me think about her experience. Should I be scared? Probably not. Before leaving though, I collected the flowers and glowing fungus in the area, figuring they'd be good for something. When we start heading south again, we come across a rotten landfill housing molerats.

"I dare say my sensors are picking up quite the smell. I can't imagine it must be very pleasant for you sir!" Codsworth said as we approached it. After making quick work of the molerats and collecting meat off them, we continued on our way to Corvega.

As we're heading there, we come across Mystic Pines, a retirement home from before the war. When we searched for the place, we found some good scrap and a magazine that taught me how to get better prices from vendors.

"Gotta keep an eye out for these," I muttered to myself. When I look outside, I notice that Corvega is nearby, probably less than a three-hour walk, so I find a bed and set my bag on the ground beside it, and close my eyes for the day.

When I wake up, the sun is setting, which is perfect since it would allow me to sneak up on the raiders. After drinking a bottle of water and eating some food, I put my bag back on and walk outside.

"Come on!" I yelled to both Heather and Codsworth. Codsworth had been roaming the area, and Heather looked like she had just woken up from sleeping herself not that long ago.

As we're walking down the street and feel like something is off and crouch. Heather follows my lead while Codsworth tries to follow quietly. As we're passing by a building, I hear some raiders and turrets, and think, 'Well crap.'

I slowly pull out my pistol and aim it, take a few breathes, then shoot at the first raider I saw, hitting his head. Unfortunately, the turrets noticed, which was to be expected because, hey, their turrets, not people.

"Heather, work with Codsworth to take care of the turrets!" I yelled at her.

"On it!" she replies while I pull out my blade. There's still one more raider at the least. So if I can get him, that'll be over since I know that Codsworth can take care of the turrets if he works with Heather. Should've made some robot repair kits for him. Oh well, too late now. When I find the raider, he's trying to shoot at Heather, who's already taken care of one of the turrets and is helping Codsworth with the other now. Unfortunately, he hears me coming and yells, "Die asshole!"

He shoots his gun at me, but misses, fortunately, and I say, "I would, but I rather enjoy living."

Before he can shoot at me again, I grabbed his gun by the barrel and force it down, then stab him in the neck. After that I took out my pistol and shot the combat inhibitor on the turret, causing it to blow up.

"You guys alright?" I ask my two companions as I hand Heather a stimpak.

"'Tis but a scratch," Codsworth says referring to the bullets that had hit him.

"I'll be fine after a minute," Heather says as she uses the stimpak.

After that, we continued walking towards the assembly plant. Once we're there, I can see that a large pipe had been busted open, making a path that could lead to Corvega. We walked in through that, and after a minute I saw some light ahead.

We continue walking forward until we see something moving ahead. Before I can see what it is though, it disappeared through a hole in the pipe. I quickly rush forward until I hear the sound of a turret firing. At first, I thought it was firing at me until I realized it was firing at what had disappeared through the hole. I heard the sound of cracking as bullets flew through the air, and whatever the turret was shooting at was grunting. When the bullets stop, I take out my pistol and look out of the hole, and see two dead people standing. I quickly shoot one in its right leg, crippling it and quickly shot the other one its leg. They both started trying to get to me, but they were limping, unable to run. Before the closest one could hit me, I pulled out my blade and stabbed it in the head. I quickly pulled the blade of the things head and stabbed it into the only other one standing.

I walk back to Codsworth, who stays there and waits for my command, and I say, "Move here."

Codsworth moved to where I was pointing, which was by the doorway leading to the hall that led to the rest of the plant.

"Wait here," I tell Codsworth as I move forward. "I don't have any repair kits for you. Don't want you falling apart while we're here."

"But sir-" Codsworth begins before I interrupt him.

"Just stay here," I firmly said. "I am not having you fall apart here." Codsworth looks at me sadly, and I smile before rubbing the top of his center eye.

"Don't worry Cods," I tell him reassuringly. "I've got Heather here watching my back."

Codsworth sighed in defeat, knowing that I wouldn't change my mind. After that, he waited there while Heather and I went to take care of the raiders in the plant. I put on my bandana and goggles, then walked down the hall until we came upon a group of raiders in the hall next to this one. Before they saw me, I noticed the floor was covered in gasoline, and before they could see me, I pulled out a Molotov that I had gotten off the body of a raider and threw it, igniting the liquid on the floor and causing the raiders in the hall to yell in both pain and shock.

"What the fuck!?" one of them yells as he burns. I continue walking straight, leaving them to burn, trying to ignore their yells and screams. I come across another room where three raiders and a turret are. Before the turret can begin to fire, I pull out another Molotov and yell "Sayonara, crap holes!" as I throw it. It hits the turret head-on, and I see it does some damage to it before it starts to fire.

"Crappity crap crap!" I yell. I did not think this part through. I really thought that one Molotov would take care of that. As soon as I hear it stop firing, I aim around the corner and shoot the barrel of the turret, causing it to explode. Why do the turrets keep exploding? After that, the other three raiders shoot at me, with two bullets grazing my ribs.

"Who taught you guys how to shoot!" I yelled, taunting them. "Was it a baby or a dog?"

I pull out the switchblade and stab it into the throat of the nearest raider, quickly pull it out and throw it into the throat of the raider that was standing by the turret. There's one more in the corner of the room by a fridge, but Heather quickly shoots him in the head with her rifle.

I run over and check the area.

"Ferals!" I hear Heather yell, and see her fighting two dead men like what had been where we came in. I sigh and quickly shoot them both in their legs.

"Is that what those things are called?" I asked. "Guess that means there are ones whose minds still work."

Heather gives me a questioning look, and I just shrug and walk through the set of double doors that lead out of the room, where I came upon a group of raiders and steps that led to the entrance. I crouched down as I walked up the steps so that way I knew there weren't any that would come attacking from behind. When I checked the ammo for my 10mm, I realized I was low on ammunition. I quickly took my bag off and stuck the pistol in it and pulled out a pipe revolver rifle I had picked up. I made sure it was loaded before standing and walking through the door that led to an office.

"Hey crap face," I say to the raider that's sitting down behind a desk.

"What the-" is all the raider can say before he gets a bullet to the face.

"What the hell was that?" I hear someone in the next room say as I look in it.

"Just your friendly neighborhood raider exterminator," I say as I walk in and shoot her in her knee, then fire another round into her head. "Make better judgment calls in your next life, if you believe in that stuff."

"Die asshole!" another raider, this one appearing to be a veteran one, said as he tried to hit me in the shoulder with a tire iron. I take a step back as he's swinging, causing him to miss and his arm to hit my shoulder instead. I quickly grab his wrist and say, "Try being stealthy."

I twist his arm and using both hands to pull his arm down, snapping it in half, and before he can react, I twist around and grab his head and turn it to the left, before twisting it to the right, snapping it, causing him to fall to the floor, now nothing more than a sack of flesh. When I walk into the hall, there's one more raider, aiming a crude weapon made of pipes at me. I run at him as he fires, the bullets sailing over my head. When I reach him, I lift him into the air before slamming him onto the ground. Before he has time to react, I sit up, grab his weapon that had fallen from his hands, and shoot him in the face.

"Why are raiders such terrible shots?" I ask Heather as she comes up behind me.

"They don't receive training," she said bluntly, a smile still on her face.

"Well help me search these raiders for anything useful," I tell her as I pull down the bandana and lift the googles. "If they have any ammunition, give me half that, and stimpaks, keep those for yourself, I have enough to last until we're done here. Also, check them for armor. Raider, leave it. But leather and metal? Grab it."

"On it," she says cheerfully. After five minutes of searching the raiders and trading some equipment, we sit down on the couch in the main lobby and eat some molerat meat I had cooked and brought.

"Molerat chunks," I say. "Disgusting, but better than nothing. You want some mutt chops?"

"Okay," Heather says as she takes the meat and starts to eat it.

After we're done, I turn to Heather.

"Ahem," I said clearing my throat.

"Hey, partner. Need something?" she asks me.

"What's on your mind?" I ask her, seeing that she looked like she wanted to tell me something.

"Great! We make a good team. Better than I expected," She told me honestly. "So much better you deserve a bigger discount. You've earned it. And this is the key to my place. It's a small bunker near Covenant, not that far from where you found me. I'd like to go there if we get a chance. Sound good to you?"

"Maybe later, after we've finished helping these settlers," I tell her.

"No worries. Whenever," she says happily.

After that, we sit there for a minute while regaining our energy. When I feel energized, I stand up and say, "Ready?"

"Yep," she says. I pull the bandana back on and pull the welding goggles down. After that, I walk back through the hall we came from and down the steps. I crouch down as we walk up and stop behind a corner. Around it are two raiders. I take another Molotov and throw it.

"Who's there?" One of them yells.

"Quelqu'un sur le point de te tuer imbéciles!" I yell, confusing them which gives me a chance to run through the flames and ram my shoulder into one of them, slamming her into the wall, and pulling out my other knife to stab him in the head. Before she has a chance to recover, I kick the other raider's legs out from under them and stomp on her face. Hard.

"What was that you just said?" Heather asks coming up behind me.

"Do you want me to repeat, or speak in English?" I ask her.

"English."

"In that case, I said 'Someone about to kill you fools'" I tell her. "It's french, so I figured I'd confuse them so I could get them. Come on, we got another room to clear up ahead." We crouched again and headed to the room ahead. Before we opened fire, I checked it to see how many raiders there were. Three on the walkway and one by a turret that was under a manager's office.

"Die sac à merde!" I yelled as I stand and shot one of the raiders on the walkway in his knee. I quickly run up there, and before he has time to recover, I hit him off the side, right towards Heather who was waiting down there for a raider. The next one in front of me tries to stab in the stomach with a switchblade, but before he can I grab his hand, twist his arm behind his back, and use him as a human shield while the next one shoots at me.

"You're cold," I say. "Not even caring about your own comrade."

"Die fucker," he yells as I drop the body and run to him. When he's reloading his gun, I punch him across the jaw, then before he has time to react, I grab his face and pull it sharply, breaking his neck. I turn around sharply as I hear the sound of a turret firing. I see Heather sitting on the ground, a bullet wound in her leg and stomach bleeding. Without thinking, I run towards it, toss a stimpak to Heather, and stand behind the wall that's to the right of the turret. I quickly pull out two Molotov and throw them both at the turret. They hit, and I see it start to sputter, but still functioning.

"Just blow up already!" I yelled as I punch the thing in one of its engines. It explodes, the heat of it burning the left of my jaw. I quickly hold my arm up to my jaw, and before I know it the raider that was beside the turret came up behind me and hit me to the ground before knocking me out.

When I woke up, I saw Heather had injected a stimpak in my arm, causing some of my wounds to close up.

I sit up, rub the back of my head and ask, "What the heck just happened?"

"You were knocked out," Heather said. "I used three stimpaks to heal you."

"How long was I out for?" I ask since it was hard to tell the time of day in here.

"You were out for a while," She said. "If I had to take a guess I'd say… around three hours."

I stood up, not caring that my face was hurting, and started walking.

"Come on," I said. "We need to get Codsworth and go get rid of these raiders boss. None of the ones we've killed fit the description of the man that leads these guys."

"On it," she said joyfully.

"Head up the staircase. I'm going to get Codsworth." After I make sure she heads up to the top floor, I go back to where we came from, the area where the sewage pipe was and came up to Codsworth.

"Come on," I told him, and then walked back the way we came, meeting up with Heather at the top of the staircase. I about walk out when I notice two turrets and three raiders, and then the big guy himself, Jared.

"So that's the guy attacking that settlement," I thought out loud. "Doesn't seem like much, but those turrets could be a problem." As I was looking for alternate ways to take care of him, I noticed a shutdown Protectron and its terminal. I slowly and carefully walked up to the terminal, and when I tried to get on, it asked for a password, and I see it's five letters long. I randomly type in thief, and it beeps, giving me control over the robot. After changing its personality subroutines to that of law enforcement, I activated it.

"Powering up. Protectron on duty," I hear it say as the pod opens up. The protectron steps out, and immediately turn to the raiders and turrets. I hear it fire some shots, a turret blows up, some raiders go down.

"What the hell?" one of the raiders yell. "Kill it!"

I hear the protectron blow-up, and when I look where Jared was, I see him still standing, but wounded, and one more turret standing.

"Oh well," I say as I pull out the rifle and aim it at Jared's head. After taking a deep breath, I steady my aim and fire. The bullet flies and hits the man in the head, which burst into brain matter and flesh. Not the most pleasant thing to see. Then I turn to the turret and fire five rounds into it and blow it up. After that, I don't know why, but I set the only mine I had by the door leading outside, active.

"Codsworth, Heather. Search the raiders for anything useful," I tell the two before walking up the platform to where Jared was and search the area.

"Sweet!" I yell excitedly. "Grognak comic book!" I put the comic into my bag and search a steamer trunk nearby. I find some metal armor in it, and another flannel shirt.

"Yeah, another flannel!" I yell happily as I stuff it into my bag. It was getting full, so I decided to stop collecting more stuff before it overfilled. I jumped over the railing of the platform and onto the floor below, and yelled, "You guys ready to head out?"

"Ready," Heather said as she came up from behind.

"Whenever you are, sir," Codsworth said as he came up to me.

I start to head for the door but see two raiders try to walk through and activate the mine.

"So that's why I felt the need to put down a mine," I said out loud as the mine blew up, sending the both of them flying. "Oh well, we got more outside to fight."

I walk through the door, where I see two raiders standing on the road and three more in a trailer. Choosing to be an idiot this time around, I run and yelled, "I'm the driver of the piss bus!"

The raiders turned to me and pulled out their guns to shoot at me. I run towards the two in the road, and before they shoot, I jump with my arms stretched out, and bring them both to the ground as my arms hit their necks. When they hit the ground and try to get up, their dazed, and before they regain their senses, I grab the back of their heads and slam them into each other. A bullet flies by me, and I yell. I quickly pull out the only grenade I have and run-up to the trailer. As I do, I pull the pin and throw it in. The raiders try to get out, but I slam the door shut so they can't get out. Five seconds later, I hear the grenade go off, and when I open the door, I see two dead bodies and one mutilated one. When I walk out, I look up and see someone leaning over the railing at the top of some tower thing.

"Hey Heather, take care of that guy," I say pointing at the raider.

"On it," she says as she starts to climb the steps. I head in a different direction, heading to the roof of the assembly plant. I'm walking through the walkway, and I hear someone say, "Die fucker!"

I quickly pull out my rifle and say, "Sûrement pas," and shoot him in the leg first, then his face. After that, I continue heading to the roof of the plant. I see three raiders, who all try to shoot at me. Their nice people. Oh well. I quickly shoot the three of them down with three well-placed shots to their heads. When I do, I hear three more people exclaim in shock that their friends just died, two of them sounding far away. I look up and see someone peering down from up above me and aiming his gun.

I quickly get inside a pipe on the roof right as he shoots, and the bullet bounces off. I jump out of the pipe quickly and shoot at the raider, firing two rounds into him.

"Don't sneak up on me, crap bags," I whine. I hear bullets hitting the ground beside me, and see they're coming from above me. Instead of running for cover, I run up the walkways and yell, "Over here piss for brains!"

This angers them as they start to fire more bullets at me. When I get to the top, there's a raider already standing there, but that doesn't stop me. Instead of slowing down, I speed up, and ram my head into the stomach of the raider, sending her stumbling back and over the railing. Well… she's dead.

"Where's the last pissant?" I yell out, getting the second raider to come out.

"Go to hell," he yelled as he tried to stab me. What's with them yelling where they are? I mean, I do it because I enjoy being an idiot most of the time. But these guys should not have that problem. I turn my body as he tried to stab me, the blade going right by me, and I kick him over the side of the railing as well. Well, nows he's dead too. I walk around the bend of the walkway, and when I come to the end, I find a bobblehead with a wrench. Neato. I stick the bobblehead in my bag and start to run down the walkway. When I get to the bottom, I come by the entrance of the place and see a raider and turret. These things are starting to annoy me.

"Hey, idiot!" I yelled at the raider.

"Huh?' is all he has the chance to say before I fire a round into his face. The turret sees and tries to fire, but the walkway blocks most of the bullets, and soon it stops firing. I quickly jump down and run around it while saying, "Bye-bye big gun."

I then fire three rounds into the turret, blowing it to bits. Knowing I had crippled most of the raiders here, probably leaving a few inside, I tightened my hold on my bag and got Codsworth and Heather. After taking off my armor and putting it in my bag, we started walking to Tenpines. It took us less time to get back to Tenpines than it did to get to Corvega, probably because the path was clear this time. We had to stop at the retirement home for the night, considering it was getting dark out and would be hard to see in the dark. How long did it take to take care of those raiders? As I'm walking up the hill, I'm changing my shirt into one of the flannels I found, when I realize something.

"Heather," I say with curiosity in my voice.

"Hey partner, need something?"

"Why didn't you tell me my jaw was burnt permanently?"

"Didn't need to," she said joyfully. "I knew you'd find out eventually."

I sighed before I finished putting the flannel on. I guess I should've expected it. When we get up the mountain and I walked up to the shack, I cleared my throat to get the attention of the settlers.

"Ahem."

"You find those raiders," the settler who told me about Corvega asked.

"Yeah," I said with a smirk. "I kicked their asses for you."

"No kidding," she said as she gave me ninety bottle caps. "That's the best piece of news we've had around here for a long time. So we've been talking- we decided if you came through for us, we'd join up with the Minutemen again."

"That's great," I told her happily.

"If we want things to get better, we've got to start helping each other. So.. we're in. You can count on us if you need anything down the line. Thanks again, friend."

"If we're friends, you can call me Mason," I told them. "That's my name, don't wear it out."

"Well I'm Katherine," she said.

"It was nice meeting you Katherine," I told her graciously.

"Likewise. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to work."

After that, Katherine walked to the tomatoes and started tending to them. I walked over to the small ruined house and after squashing three radroaches that were there, I sat on the mattress, pulled out my writing utensils, and wrote down everything that happened. Once it started getting dark out, I put the stuff away and laid down. After staring at the stars for a while, I close my eyes and fell asleep. It was one of my most restful nights since waking up in this world.


	4. Chapter 4: Returning the Favor

When I woke up the next morning, the first thing I did was grab my bag and emptied it of and junk I had in it. I collected what I had Heather and Codsworth carrying, and handed all of it to Katherine, who took it and placed it… somewhere. After that, I took some string and started placing it around.

"Katherine, I need you to be walking back and forth between Sanctuary," I told her as I finished placing down the string. "You'll be swapping supplies around with them normally. The string I placed down marks where you'll be building walls and watchtowers, alright?"

"Okay," Katherine said. "Anything else I should know?"

"Nothing else for now," I told her, then walked to her friend.

"I want to trade a few things," I tell him as I approach him.

"Go ahead," he told me. After that, I gave him one of the flannels I had, I'm crying inside, and pieces of armor to put on. When that was done, I started to mark the area for the bunkhouse that would be built by the farm. It would be about two stories high, each of the floors having nine beds, three beds in a room. I gave the plans to the man and said, "Give these to Katherine once the walls and watchtowers are built."

"Okay," he said brightly.

I then handed him some mutfruit and corn seeds and said, "Start planting these. We'll need these grown to help other settlements."

He looked at me weirdly, and I said, "Don't worry. It'll be a great help. Just don't forget to plant them."

Once he walked away, I went to their cooking station and cooked what meat I had, making sure it didn't go to waste.

After cooking the meat, I put my bag on and started heading to Sanctuary. Once I got down the mountain, I found some railroad tracks that would lead me to the road to Concord and started to walk along with it. While I was, I ran into a two-headed cow that had suitcases strapped to it and a collar on it with a name. Ol' Girl? This must've been one of the traders' cows and got lost.

"Hey Heather," I say. "Do you know who Ol' Girl belongs to?"

"Lucas Miller. He mostly trades armor pieces, saying its save 'many a wastelander. He's up at Tenpines Bluff."

"Can you take her back there?" I asked her. "I'll wait here."

"On it," she said joyfully. She is one of the nicest people I've met.

After that, I stood there and waited for about thirty minutes for Heather to get back. When she did, I started following the railroad until I got to the road and soon got to Concord. While I was walking through I found the Concord Speakeasy and walked in. It didn't really have anything in it, besides a skeleton hugging a mannequin and three surrounding a skeleton in a tub. Those were some weird, but funny people. I found some clothing and bottle, and there was even a Concord Lagner recipe, even though I had nothing to do with it. When I was sure I had gotten everything, besides what was behind a door I couldn't unlock, I left the speakeasy and continued walking to Sanctuary. Pretty soon I reached the truck stop outside of Sanctuary, and I checked the storage there for anything I might need. All I could find that I needed was some circuitry and crystal needed for a beacon at Sanctuary.

"Taking a trip down memory lane, sir?" Codsworth asked as I stuffed the junk in my bag.

"Nope," I answer him. "Just parts for a beacon." With that finished, I put the bag back on and headed to Sanctuary. It took less time than before to travel to Sanctuary. Maybe because again, there were no enemies. As I was walking to Sanctuary, I decided to check my stats on my pip-boy. It seemed my endurance had gone up significantly, having gone from a five to ten, and my intelligence from a four to ten, while my charisma had become a seven. I didn't know what this meant, but I wasn't worried about it. When I approached the bridge, I saw a suitcase on the ground that hadn't been there when I had left. I eyed it carefully before crouching down and opening it. All I saw in it were five pieces of paper, each with a shipment for materials. That was… odd. Why would someone need this? How did these even work today? I stuffed the papers in my back pocket and continued walking to Sanctuary.

As I walked into Sanctuary, instead of talking to Garvey, I walked by him through the gate I had built with Sturges and walked into the living room of my house. I sat on the chair and took off my boots, rubbing feet, sore from walking today. After rubbing my feet for a few minutes, I take off my bag and set it on the ground. I started digging through it before pulling out was I was looking for. The 'Hi Honey!' holotape Nora had made before the bombs fell. Before all this… crap happened. I loaded it into the Pip-Boy and pressed play.

"*Feedback sound.* Oopsie. Ha ha ha. No, no, no. Little fingers away. There we go. Just say it. Right there. Right there. Go ahead. *baby giggles* Ha ha! Yay! Hi honey! Listen…"

When I heard Nora's voice, I couldn't help but tear up. I know to me, it had only been a few weeks since I've heard her voice, but it felt like it had been years.

"I don't think Shaun and I need to tell you how great of a father you are... but we're going to anyway. You are kind and loving, (Shaun laughs)... and funny! Ha ha. That's right. And patient. So patient. Patience of a saint, my mom used to say."

"I didn't think she liked me," I thought out loud. "Never complimented me."

"Look, with Shaun, and us all being at home together... It's been an amazing year. But even so, I know our best days are yet to come. There will be changes, sure. Things we'll need to adjust to. You'll rejoin the civilian workforce, I'll shake the dust off my law degree… But everything we do, no matter how hard... we do it for our family.

I laughed, knowing how right she was.

Now say goodbye, Shaun... Bye-bye? Say bye-bye? *baby giggles* Bye honey! We love you!"

I heard the click of the holotape as it stopped playing. As soon as I put the holotape back in my bag, I burst into tears. Hearing Nora's voice. Shaun's giggling. It reminded me of what I had lost. Of what had been taken from me. Why? Why did all this have to happen? I continued crying, for what felt like hours but was just nine minutes.

Once I'm done feeling sorry for myself, I took papers out of my bag that hadn't been written on and started writing some plans for Sturges. After I finished writing them, I put them on my counter and set the corner of a cooler Codsworth and I had made on top of it. After making sure it was secure, I put my boots back on and walked out to talk to Garvey.

When I walk up to him, he smiles at me.

"You know that settlement you sent me to help? They've decided to join the Minutemen," I told him brightly.

"That's great knew," Garvey said happily. "I knew you were the right one for the job. By the way, you should have one of these flare guns. You can use it to signal for help from any nearby Minutemen. Not much use yet, but once we have more allied settlements, you'll have help whenever you need it."

After that his tone became somber. "I don't think I ever told you what happened to the Minutemen. How I ended up as the last one."

"I figured you'd tell me when you were ready," I told him.

"Have you heard of the Quincy Massacre?"

They came from there, didn't they? "Your group came from Quincy, didn't you?"

"That's right. Mama Murphy, Sturges, the Longs… they were all from Quincy. I was with Colonel Hollis group. A mercenary group called the Gunners was attacking Quincy; the people there called for the Minutemen to help. We were the only ones that came. The other groups… they just turned their backs. On us, and the folks in Quincy. Only a few of us got out alive. Colonel Hollis was dead. So I ended up in charge of the survivors. We never found a safe place to settle. One disaster after another… you saw how it ended, in Concord."

Well crap. I never could have guessed that was what happened. "As long as you don't give up, the Minutemen will survive."

"I'm not about to give up," Garvey said. "But I can't protect the Commonwealth all by myself. Hell, I could barely protect these people. That's why I'm talking to you. I can't rebuild the Minutemen… but I think you can."

"That means a lot coming from you, Garvey," I told him joyfully.

"I appreciate that. Does that mean you'll do it?"

I thought about it for a minute, then said, "Okay. I'll do it."

"That's the spirit, sir!" Codsworth said happily. "And one giant step in the right direction for the Commonwealth."

"Good. Good!" Preston exclaimed proudly. "Welcome aboard. I feel like this is a whole new start for the Minutemen, and the Commonwealth, too. Don't worry, I'll be beside you all the way… General."

I scoff and say, "I'm no 'General'."

"You'll have to get used to it," Garvey told me. "The leader of the Minutemen has always held the rank of General. Our last leader was General Becker. After he died back in '82, nobody could agree on who should take his place. The one good thing about being the last Minutemen is there's no one to argue with me when I say you're the new General. Now it's your job to make it more than an empty title."

Preston then paused for a minute before saying, "Got a strange message. From a robot. Said it was someplace called Graygarden. I couldn't figure out exactly what it wanted, but, well… may as well check it out. You never know."

I would have to keep that in mind when I start heading further south.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"How are you feeling?" I ask, wanting to be sure he's alright.

"I'm glad to have a chance to return the favor, after all the help you gave me. Just let me know if there's anything else you need."

"Yeah, I need you to go be stand guard in one of the watchtowers."

"All right," Garvey said, then turned to head up to a tower.

After he left, I walked up to a settler who was coming into Sanctuary.

"Hi, I'm new," the settler said as he approached me. "Anything I can do to help out around here?"

"Firstly, I need a name," I told him as I pulled out a piece of paper. "First and last."

"Tyler Kynigan," the settler told me brightly.

"You'll be the provisioner for the supply line between here and the truck stop," I told him, then wrote down some supplies before handing the paper to him. "Go to the storage and collect these materials. Take them to Red Rocket."

"All right," Tyler said. After that, I walked back up the hill to talk to Sturges.

"Hey buff man!" I yelled as I neared the gate.

"What's up?" Sturges asked.

"I need you to put together a beacon, generator, and terminal. I got the plans for them at my house on the counter. Can you get it done before I get back?"

"How long you travelin' for?"

"A week at the most," I told him before showing him the map on my Pip-Boy, showing the zones I had marked. "The way I see it, this place can be split into seven zones, with the one right in the middle is made of multiple smaller sections. I'm going to travel through it for the next week, to find out what's in it, all right?"

"I'll have the stuff built before you get back then," Sturges told me. "So long as we got the parts."

"Thanks, Sturges," I told him happily. "By the way, do you know what is this for?" I then pulled out one of the papers for shipments and handed it to him.

"Sure do boss. Give these to a junk vendor, and they'll have the parts sent to whatever location you want them to," Sturges explained.

"Thanks, buff man," I said, then mumbled to myself as I walked away, "Well these will come in handy." I then yelled over my shoulder, "Use it when a trader comes through!"

After I finished talking to him, I headed into my house, grabbed my bag, and started to sort the weapons into four containers in Shaun's old room, rifles, shotguns, pistols, and heavy. Most of them were crude pistols made of pipes, so it was relatively easy to sort through them. I kept the revolver, 10 mm, a pipe pistol, and a switchblade, and headed to my bedroom. In there, I made sure to put any pre-war clothing into my dresser, and any miscellaneous items that weren't useful for scrap and the two flags and one teddy bear I had found were put into the desk that I had made and put at the front of my bed. Once I finished, I walked out to my kitchen and started sorting my food. Meats, drinks, plants, drugs, and pre-war packaged food. That took longer since I had found quite a bit, and both Codsworth and Heather could carry much more than I could. After sorting them, I grabbed enough food to last me a week and put it back into my bag after wrapping all of it. Then I walked over to the four lockers that I had Codsworth make and put clothing into one, hats in another, armor in a third, and facial wear in the last.

I then headed out to the cooking station and cooked what I had. When I was done cooking, I headed over to the weapons workbench and put a reflex sight onto the three guns I had. I hardened the receiver for the 10mm, made sure the grip was comfortable and lengthened the barrel before putting it in my bag.

I then pulled out the revolver and hardened the receiver for that as well, lengthened the barrel, and added a bayonet to the end of it.

I put that away and pulled out the pipe pistol. I cut the grip of it off before putting a stock on it, made the magazine larger, added a bayonet to it, and hardened the receiver. I put it into my bag and took off my armor. I went to the storage to find some parts and noticed a set of green armor with a grey helmet.

"Hey, Codsworth. What is this?" I asked him as I came back to the house with the supplies.

"Armor sir. I found it while you were helping the people in Concord, and put it into storage for you. Why, is something wrong."

"Nothing, it's just better than my current armor. I think I'll keep it."

"And what shall I do with your current armor?" Codsworth asked me.

"Give it to buffy," I said smiling. "He needs armor."

"Alright, sir."

I then walked back to the armor workbench and fixed up this new armor. I figured I upgrade the ballistic protection five times, but I unfortunately only knew how to do it twice. Same for the amount of radiation it protected me from. After I was done putting the finishing touches on it, I looked at it for a minute before saying. "That's an ugly shade of green." I then grabbed some gray oil paint and painted over the green. When I was done, I took a look at it and said, "Yeah, that's better. I then walked into the house and changed into the armor, putting my clothes into my bag.

"Ready to go Codsworth?" I asked as I exited the house.

"I shall follow you wherever you go, sir," Codsworth said happily.

"All right then, let's go." When I finished talking to him, I adjusted the straps of my bag so they were secured on, and walked to the bridge of Sanctuary before descending down the hill to the river bank.

I began to follow the river, heading west towards a military APC in the middle of it. The water was heavily irradiated, but nothing I couldn't handle. There were two bloodbugs near it, but Heather and I made quick work of them. There were barrels of radiation by it, so I quickly ran into the vehicle and grabbed the first aid kit out of it and an army helmet lying on a barrel. I stuck the kit into my bag and turned to Heather.

"You need some protection for your head," I told her, smiling as I handed her the helmet.

"Thanks," she told me as she put it on. "What about your head?"

"I may be fighting to find my son, but I'm not having anyone die because of me."

"Okay."

After that I turned south, knowing there was a ranger cabin nearby. We headed that way, collecting plants along the way. When we got there, there were three giant flies or bloatflies as I heard Heather call them, and swiftly fired a round with my revolver into each of them. I walked into the cabin and saw a skeleton lying on a mattress. I looked in a suitcase that was by it and found a holotape in it. I put it into my Pip-Boy and hit play, hoping it would shine some light about the skeleton.

"October 22, 2077. I finally told them tonight, and it was bad. Real bad. Dad was shouting, telling me I should be ashamed, that I had to get out of the house. Mom just cried, and somehow that hurt worse than anything else. She didn't say a word, not even when I packed my things. I can't go to John- he doesn't even know yet. Maybe he'll never know. If it weren't for the cabin I wouldn't have a place to sleep. Just need some time to think. Last time I was here, I was just a little girl playing clubhouse in this old cabin. Now I'm really scared. Will anything ever be right again?"

'No, it won't' I thought bitterly. What type of parent would abandon their child for getting pregnant? Why would they? At least now then they would know their bloodline won't die soon, even though that wasn't the case with this one.

When I looked around the Cabin for anything useful, I found something akin to a magazine, a Wasteland Survival Guide. When I looked through it, it ways to defend against melee weapons. I stuck it in my bag and headed to the Wicked-Shipping Fleet Lockup nearby.

When we got there, there were five ferals, two outside, two in the main building, and one in a separate building. While in the main building, I found a Grognak comic and a key for Wicked-Shipping Trailers.

"Sweet!" I yelled happily. "Grognak Comic!"

After sticking the comic and key into my bag, I headed out to the road where Codsworth and Heather were waiting, having finished looking around the place for anything useful. I'm about to start walking until I see a large building in the distance that I know wasn't there when the bombs fell. I decided to start heading towards it and followed the road until I came upon a shack. There were two bloatflies here, and after pulling out my switchblade, I stabbed one its stomach, and the other in the head, which was hard since they were flying. I then walked up the hill, and when I saw what the building was, I realized it was a small farm, and saw three people here, two older people and someone on the younger end of the spectrum. I approached the younger one, a female with auburn hair and brown eyes.

"Excuse me," I said as I came up to her.

"Here for work? We could use some help picking melons if you've got some spare time. I'll give you caps for any you can bring me." When she said that, I thought I had heard wrong. Pay me in bottlecaps? Why would I need those?

"What are you paying?" I inquired, deciding to be sure of what I heard.

"Yeah, like bottlecaps? And because it's money? At least it is here in the Commonwealth."

Why would they use bottlecaps? It didn't make any sort of sense. "You guys pay for things in bottle caps? What happened to dollars and cents?"

"That old stuff? Not too useful these days, unless you're looking to stock up your outhouse."

Well, guess that means I can use a Mr. Franklin to wipe my bootay. "You look like you have a pretty successful farm here."

"We'd like to think so. Having Clarabell helps. 'Free Fertilizer' as daddy would say. Whatever saves caps."

"Maybe I'll help you out later."

"That's all right. If you ever do feel like earning extra caps, the offer's always there."

After I finished talking to her, I walked up to the older man and cleared my throat.

"That's close enough, stranger. We're a peaceful farm and we don't want any trouble," the man said as I approached him, aiming a gun at me. Where did he pull that from?

"It's okay. I'm friendly. Not looking to cause any trouble," I said while holding my hands up to show him I wasn't going to attack.

He looked skeptical for a minute before putting his gun down."If you say so, but be warned, we're armed here. So don't try anything. Let me tell ya, farmin' ain't easy. Out in the field, all day, every day? And every minute of it… spent watching your back."

"Farming's hard work," I told him, having spent a few of my younger years working on a farm.

"Won't argue with that," he said with a smile. "Blake Abernathy. You new to the Commonwealth?"

"I'm Mason Black and… yeah, you could say that" I told him as I introduce myself. Wasn't a complete lie. I was familiar with the area, just not the time.

"Good to see a new face. How 'bout you. Ever think about working the land?"

I thought about, then said, "I'm sure I'll give it a try someday." It was true. I couldn't exactly fight once I got to a certain age.

"Well, good luck to you then. Maybe I'll see you at the Diamond City Market someday an' we'll do a swap. Word of advice though. If you do start up a farm, be ready to deal with the raiders. Why do all the hard work when you can just take what you want at gunpoint?"

I'm guessing this guy doesn't know how to fight raiders. If he did, he'd have a pretty easy time fighting them. "What about the Minutemen? If you join up, we all can help each other against the raiders."

"You don't say? I thought the Minutemen were all gone. Last time those raiders hit us, my daughter Mary tried to stand up to 'em. Now she's buried out back of the house. Only twenty-one years old, and they shot her down without a thought. So you can understand why I'm glad the Minutemen are back. Although a bit too late for my Mary." At the end, his expression became saddened, which I could understand.

"There's nothing worse than losing a child. Believe me, I know," I told him with a frown on my face.

"All too well I'm afraid. My sympathies are with you both," Codsworth added.

"I'm sorry to hear you say so. I don't have much to offer, but… Those raiders that killed Mary, they took her locket too. It's been in Connie's family for generations. If you could get it back, it'd mean a lot to us."

Well, I couldn't exactly fight them without a location. These are probably just typical run of the mill raiders. Gonna be easy as… making a sandwich. I still don't understand why people say easy as pie. That's a freaking hard thing to make. "Do you know where they're coming from?"

"Yeah, pretty sure I do. One of them mentioned Olivia while they were here. My guess is they're holed up in that old USAF station."

"I'll get that locket back for you. No problem," I told him with a smirk.

"That means a lot. By the way, Connie will sell you any supplies needed for the road."

After that, I realized it was getting dark and asked, "Do you have a spare bed?"

"Yeah," Mr. Abernathy told me. "Go inside, immediately take a left. It's just around the corner in the house."

"Thanks," I told him, then put my hand on his shoulder. "I'll head out to get the locket tomorrow. It's too dark head out right now."

"I understand. Commonwealth is dangerous enough during the day."

"And even more so at night."

I then headed into the building and sat down in a red chair they had, and set my bag on the ground in front of me. I then pulled out a noodle cup, took a fork and started eating. It was all I needed for the night, and when I was done, I stuck the fork back in my bag. I then walked over and picked up a knocked over trash can and moved it so the Abernathy's could use it, and tossed the cup into it. After I was done, I grabbed my bag and went to sit back in the chair. I stuck the bag by the chair before sitting down, grabbed the rolled-up blanket I brought, and sat down before closing my eyes for the night.

When I woke up the next morning, the first thing I did was make sure nobody else was up. Heather was asleep in the spare bed, and Codsworth, well… he was always awake. The Abernathy's were asleep as well, leaving me as the only human awake. I grabbed another noodle cup out of my bag as well as a bottle of water. I didn't forget a fork, so don't worry, I didn't use my bare hands. I sat at their table and started eating, making sure to drink my water after swallowing. When I was done, I tossed the noodle cup into the trash can, then went outside to a water pump and filled the bottle with water. Why waste a perfectly good bottle? When I looked out in the distance, I could see dark clouds covering the sky. Probably going to be a storm later. After filling the bottle, I walked back in and stuck it into my bag, then rolled the blanket and strapped the blanket to my bag. I did the same thing for Heather, and grabbed both her bag and her… messenger bag was what I believed it was, and walked out to Codsworth.

"Hey Codsworth," I whispered to him.

"How may I be of service?" he asked happily.

I took three bungee cords out of my bag and said, "Stay still. You'll be carrying these for a while."

"Of course, sir."

I then started strapping the bags onto him, and after making sure they wouldn't fall off him, walked inside to get Heather. Instead of waking her, I somehow managed to get her onto my back without waking her, held her up by her legs, and started walking. As I was walking, I was careful not to wake her up. When I got to the road, I followed it until I came to a three-way turn. Well, I say three, most would say two with a third a little further down the road. I took the road leading right and walked down it for a bit before seeing a cabin with ferals.

"Hey Codsworth," I whispered. "Can you take care of the ferals surrounding that cabin?"

"With pleasure, sir!" he joyfully said.

As he was taking care of the ferals I had to make sure Heather wouldn't fall, realizing she was getting heavier every minute I carried her. Shouldn't mention that to her though. One thing that was true with most females, is that they did not like their weight being mentioned. After about five minutes, Codsworth came back up to me and told me the ferals were gone.

"Alright," I told him as I walked towards the cabin. "Let's see if there's anything useful."

When I walked into the cabin, I saw a mattress on the floor in the corner of the room. I walked over to it and placed Heather down on it, making sure not to wake her, then looked around. There was a root cellar on the right of the mattress and opened it before climbing down into it. I walked around before noticing a room at the end of a dugout hallway. I walked down it, and almost open it before hearing a faint groaning noise. I know it's not a human, or at least wasn't anymore. I pulled out my 10mm, then made sure the door was at least partially open, then held the gun with both hands. I took a few deep breaths, hoping Heather wouldn't kill me if I woke her up, and kicked open the door. I saw a feral standing in the middle, and he stared at me for a minute before running at me. I quickly fired two shots into his right leg, blowing it off, sadly, then fired a round into its head. I don't know why, but leaving these things with both legs made me feel… uneasy. I about walk into the room, until I see barrels with nuclear waste. So instead of being smart and staying out of the room, I run in quickly and grab what I can. I put most of it in my bag when I get back out of the room, and sit flat on my nonexistent butt and look at the magazine I got out of the room. For whatever reason, it was giving directions to Diamond City, which I did not need. I then pull out the Grognak comic and start reading it. When I finish it, I put it away and climb up the ladder. When I climb out, I notice how cool the air has gotten, and when I look outside, I see a snowstorm has come along. Knew it would be storming today. I see Heather who is currently rubbing her arms to keep from getting too cold. Guess she woke up.

"Well you finally woke up," I said with a smirk. We've been traveling for a little over two hours and you were asleep until we got here."

"At least you didn't leave me behind. That's good," she replies. I then walk over to Codsworth and take mine and Heather's bags off him.

"Here," I say as I hand her the two bags she was carrying. "Now Codsworth won't have to carry your supplies. Be ready to head out in fifteen minutes."

"In this sort of weather?" she asks, surprised at the situation.

"A little bit of snow like this won't affect how we travel," I tell her. "You can't travel with me if you can't handle it, I'll have to send you to Sanctuary."

"I'll be fine," she told me. "Just surprised is all."

Guess most people don't know how to book it through snow or storms. After fifteen minutes had passed, we headed out through the storm. I had made sure to protect myself against the colder parts of the weather by putting my flannel on underneath my armor. I may not get cold easily, but that doesn't stop frostbite. I also had put on a pair of gloves on my hands and put the helmet that went with the armor on. We walked out into the storm and had to pass through Concord and pass Thicket Excavations, and finally approached the satellite station. Most people, which I assumed to be true about these raiders as well, would wait to fight when they could see. But I didn't back down from a challenge unless I had to.

I started walking up to it when three mole rats popped up out of the ground. I grabbed the nearest one as it tried to bite me by its head, and slammed it into its brother by Codsworth. He and Heather quickly got rid of them as I grabbed the third and stomped its head in. Suddenly I heard the sound of a bullet being shot. I turn to see who shot, but fall to the ground. The bullet would have hit me if I hadn't been wearing a helmet! Probably because it's storming too, but oh well, who has time to figure that out. I quickly got up and fire a shot at the guy who shot my helmet and hit his leg. Before he can recover, I ran up to him and kicked him in the side of the head. I walk around the corner of the main building and see a raider on the walkway, aiming his gun to hit me. I can tell he's not a good shot, as the bullet flies over my head. I put my gun away and pull out my revolver, and fire two rounds into the guy's chest. He falls, and I'm about to head into the building when I see a dog.

'Probably a mutt' I thought to myself as it ran up and tried to bite me. I jumped out its way as Heather fired at it. It turns to ashes after her final shot and I think, 'When's the next time I'll get a decent breakfast?'

We head inside and defend the steps, where Codsworth almost triggers a laser tripwire. I disabled it and got some junk from it, then disarm the trap on the ceiling, getting six fusion cells from it. Sweet!

"Really, does no one believe in proper lighting anymore?" Codsworth asks as we're walking through the first room.

"Quiet," I whisper to him. "We're in raider territory. Don't attract them yet." I walk over to the window and look out over it. I see a raider and dog on the walkway, but instead of firing at them, I pull my head down and take a deep breath. I then cover my eyes and listen. There's another raider in the bathroom of this place, and another in the room the stairs lead to. I know there are more, but they're too far away for me to know how many.

I look out the window again and aim my revolver at the dog. Before either can notice me, I shoot it in its main body, then fire another shot into its owner's head.

"What the fuck was that?" I heard a raider say around the corner, the one in the bathroom. I pull out my switchblade as he's coming around the corner and say, "Hi, I'm Mason."

He pulls out his gun to fire, and I run towards him. He starts to shoot, but I run side to side so he misses, and as I near him, I say, "I'm the last thing you'll ever see." I then put a foot on the wall and kick off it, slamming the blade into his skull. I then turn around and run to the stairs, and quietly walk down them.

"Keep your eyes open," I hear one of them say. "I think this asshole's using a stealth boy."

No, just crouching down. Seriously, who taught these guys how to be bad? A little kid?

I walk up to a room, and a raider walks by. He sees me, but before he can pull out his gum, I stand up, grab his head and pull it down, and knee him in the face. Before he has time to recover, I pull out my blade and slit his throat.

"Mother fucker! I'll tear you limb from limb!" I hear a female say. While she is true that I'm a mother fucker, it was me who made the lady a mother. But she was still a little wrong. She wouldn't get to tear my limbs off.

"Over here, cupcake!" I yell, coming out of cover. I saw that she had a minigun but before she could fire a single round, I fired my revolver, shooting her in the head. Should've worn a helmet. After quickly taking care of the other two, I drank a bottle of water, feeling thirsty after a long day.

"She was a crazy bitch," Heather said. "You did good."

I walked to the generator and pulled out the fusion core, sticking it in my bag after doing so. I lifted the minigun off the ground the woman had and saw the name 'Ack-Ack' written into it. Was that the lady's name? Oh well, she's dead now. I searched the raiders' bodies for the locket but had no such luck. I then walked to the back of the place, hoping they would at least have a place where they stored things. I found a toolbox near the back and opened it, finding a locket in it that had a picture of the Abernathy's in it. Guess they changed it every time the locket was passed on. I stuck the locket in my pocket and turned to the door. I tried to open it, but it was locked. I took a look at it and smiled. It was an easy lock. I took out a bobby pin and screwdriver and attempted to open it. I broke one pin trying to open it and damaged the second a little before I unlocked the thing. I opened the door and saw four rad roaches inside. The first I ran up to and stabbed, stomped on the second, and shot the third. I went to stab the fourth, but I tripped over the body of the third and fell on top of it. Like, face-first into is back. I was going to need to wash my helmet after this.

I stood up and walked to the back, where I found a skeleton lying on the ground, leaned against boxes and a radroach underneath it. Seriously, Mr. Roach? Why under a skeleton? I didn't let it come out and sat on the skeleton. Don't worry, it had some old army fatigues on. After sitting on it I stood up and searched the toolbox in front of it and grabbed a key out of it.

"Guess this is for the room upstairs," I thought out loud. That was the only room here that needed a key to open it considering the other doors requiring keys were either opened or unlocked. I looked around the storage room for anything useful. All I found some rad-x and a stimpak in a medkit on the wall near the door. I then left and walked back to where most of the dead raiders were.

"Check the raiders for anything useful," I told Heather and Codsworth. After searching the room they were near, I found two teddy bears, one on an aluminum tray, and one with an army helmet on. I then walked up the stairs to the locked door, after I unlocked it, I walked in and searched it for anything useful. I found a mini-nuke on the table in the center but left it alone since I didn't really like heavy weapons. At least I didn't like to use them. Mini nukes weigh twelve pounds, and miniguns required a lot of ammunition. I found a chest in the corner and found some ammo. There was a U.S. Covert Operations Manual on the table in the middle, so I stuck it in my bag and decided to read it later. These were boring to read but gave valuable lessons on how to be a little stealthier. I walked out of the room and closed the door behind me, locking it so nothing wanting a mini-nuke could get it. I walked out and saw Codsworth and Heather waiting for me. "Let's get going," I said as I turned to leave the station. When I exited the door and walked out, I looked at my Pip-Boy to check the time and saw it was only one in the afternoon. We had been traveling for only seven hours? I guess it wasn't surprising since I didn't let the weather slow me down. May end up coming back to Sanctuary in less than a week after all.

Nah, I'd find a way to keep myself busy for a week so I wouldn't be lying to Sturges. When I walk out, I see a crashed vertibird in the distance. Heather also comments whether we could communicate with aliens using the satellite dish, but I ignore it. I start walking towards it and see three rad tags near it. I pull out the revolver, I think I'll call her Marie, and aim at the closest one. As I look at them, I realize if I shoot their right head, it hurts them more than the left. So I quickly fire two rounds into it. The one closest to it saw what happened and almost ran, but I fired a round right between its eyes. The third one for whatever reason either didn't notice or didn't care, but it didn't run away until I shot it in the head. Granted it didn't run away, but it probably wanted to live. I feel bad now, and I'll get over it. I collected the meat I could off it and collected the hide of two of them. I had to leave the third so I could still run. I approach the vertibird and almost start bouncing in joy. A partially complete set of T-51 power armor! All it was missing was an arm and a leg!

I quickly run up to it and open the back of it and get in. I love this armor and no one can change my mind. Others have tried, but they all failed. After getting adjusted in it, I walked out to the road and start heading north. There's an old scrapyard ahead, and I remember from Heather's list of places to go that it was one of them. After getting there, I see a trashed sentry bot and think, 'At least it ain't active.' I walk into the building and find a Hot Rodder Magazine. So a new paint job for power armor. Nice. I take a holotape out of the nearby computer, labeled 'Combat Sentry Proto MKIV Holotape.' Must be used to control that sentry bot. I stick into my Pip-Boy and activate it. I walk out and see it starting up and go stand in the middle junk pile. While it's patrolling the area, a nest of molerats pop out of the ground. I don't bother doing anything and let the sentry bot take care of them, which it does with ease. After that, I look at my map and start walking to Red Rocket. It's between us and the Abernathy's, so I figured I'd stop there and drop off all our junk. While walking there, we ran into some raiders, three males to be exact, and their dog. Codsworth killed the dog while I took care of two of the raiders with Marie. The first one that had tried to kill me shot at me, but missed due to me rolling to the side.

"Try harder next time, cupcake," I yell as I run at him and stab the bayonet attached to Marie into his stomach, before pulling it out and slicing his throat. The second one tried to hit me from behind, but slammed the stock of my gun into his stomach, making him clutch his stomach. Before he had time to recover, I quickly turned around and shot him in the head. I turned around to shoot the third, but Heather had already turned him to ashes. We collected what loot we could off of them, and continued our own to Red Rocket. When we got there, the sun was going down, so I went and pulled one of the tables and chairs outside and sat down. I searched through my bag before pulling out some molerat chunks. Now, this I didn't use a fork for since it was meat. I tore into it, not having eaten since that morning, then grabbed my bag and looked for a bed to sleep in. I found one, and layed down and closed my eyes for the night.

When I got up, I looked around and saw three people lying in beds. As in, three settlers. I guess Sturges had finished the beacon for Sanctuary and made and sent a second one here. How did he know I was going to have him do that? I checked the three people for what they had and grabbed what weapons they had. Now I know you may think I was stealing them, but don't worry. I'm just going to fix them up so they're better than your average pipe pistol. Yep, that's what they all had. Pipe pistols. I was going to need to supply them with better weapons in the future. I went and took the guns to the weapon workbench in the garage of this place, and upgrade them all the same way, with them mostly like my pipe rifle, except their magazines were quick eject and not large. I didn't know how well they did when they fought, so I made sure they could reload quickly. After that, I put their guns back and wrote a note so they knew why their guns were different. Except for the mans. I had given him Ack-Acks minigun and ammo. All in all, it took me about three hours to do, since I had to scrap the material and junk I had for all the materials I could. I then grabbed my bag and made sure Heather was awake before looking at my Pip-Boy and seeing it was eleven in the afternoon. If we left now, we could get there by dinner. We started following the road through Concord since the road would get us there safer than by traveling in the hills.

We finally got to the place as the sun was setting behind us. Luckily we hadn't run into trouble on the way, so it could have taken longer. As I walked up, Mr. Abernathy greeted me.

"Any luck finding that locket?" he asked. I know the locket is nice, but that's the first thing he says? No hello.

"I've got that locket back for you," I told him, deciding not to start an argument.

"You serious? That's great news! Connie's gonna be speechless." Blake sighed happily then said, "Whatever the Minutemen need, you can count on us. We got a decent workshop here, and Connie's sure to go leaner on her prices after what you've done."

That was nice to know. Since it was getting dark out, I walked inside and sat in the chair and grabbed my blanket before falling asleep.


	5. Chapter 5: Clearing the Way

When I got up that morning, I ate my breakfast and ate it silently. I know hearing what I'm eating is probably boring to hear at this point, so I'll just say when I eat. When I finished, I pulled some paper out of my bag and started writing and drawing some plans for Mr. Abernathy. I knew they didn't have all the supplies needed to build walls around this place, but I would create a supply line between here and Red Rocket. When I finished, I rolled them up and tied them together with string.

"Sir, perhaps now is a good time?" I heard Codsworth ask as I was walking out the door to start collecting their fruits and vegetables. A good time for what? A talk? I guess it was since we weren't heading anywhere anytime soon.

"Sure Cods. What's up?" I ask.

"Oh, just a little something I'd like to get off the old proverbial chest." He then pauses before saying, "I just want to say what an honor it is for me to accompany you. You've no idea the horror these past two centuries have wrought." No, I can not. "The initial destruction, not knowing if you and your family were all right. It was a relief to find the entrance intact!"

"Codsworth, I never knew. I can't imagine it was easy," I told him.

"Not a single worry, sir, as I shared your priorities completely. Family safety first above all else." That somehow made it hurt more. We had considered Codsworth family, but the vault wouldn't let him in. "And yes, while it was hard at first, I was able to eventually move on. At first, it was the work, busting myself day and night, and believe me, there was plenty of it. But eventually, the work became light chores." How does all that become light chores? "What truly saved me was my memories, sir. Memories of you and the missus, young Shaun. Of your love and kindness. I soldiered on, fueled by the hope that one day, if not you or the missus, that Shaun, or perhaps Shaun's children would one day emerge"

I took a deep breath before saying, "Sorry it took so long. I only wish we could have all gotten out… as a family."

"As do I, sir, as do I. It is unfortunate. I just wanted you to know how much I consider you family. I may be a mere robot to some, but I do hope you've come to see me as more."

"I consider you to be family too, Codsworth. We're in this world together for the long haul… together," I said, finally telling him how I felt that he was still around.

"Mister Black, you don't know how wonderful it is for me to hear that! I feel completely recharged. Well, I enough blither-blather from me. Let's get back to it, shall we?"

After that, I continued walking and started collecting the tomatoes for them. It took me close to three hours, but I got all the tomatoes, let's just call them tatos, and put them in a basket by the front door. I wrote a note for Heather letting her know I was heading to the Red Rocket Truck Stop to set up a supply line between them and the farm, and that I'd be back by noon. I needed some supplies from there as well so I could fix the Abernathy's fridge. It took me two hours to get there today since I didn't take the road. I ran into two bloatflies on the way, which Codsworth helped dispose of, and got to Red Rocket. I then walked up to the nearest settler who introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm new around here. I was wondering if there was anything I could do to help."

"Yeah," I told him as I pulled a piece of paper out of my back pocket. "Name?"

"Lucas Falsir."

"Well Lucas, looks like you're the new provisioner that travels between Red Rocket and Abernathy Farm. Go to Sanctuary and get someone to come to the farm with you. You'll be helping Mr. Abernathy put up walls around the place."

"Surely there's a more important job than this," Lucas whines.

"Considering your the one bringing food here from Abernathy Farm so that these people can eat, this is a pretty important job."

"That does sound important," Lucas said proudly.

"Then get to it. Abernathy needs those supplies," I told him as politely as possible. This guy was clearly an arrogant dick, but what could I do about it? Send him to a pack of molerats. Once he started making his way to Sanctuary, I grabbed the materials I needed, leaving some stuff so I could still walk. and started to head back to the Abernathy's. It took another two hours to get there, and when I did, I saw some two-headed deer nearby. I left them alone so I could get to the Abernathy's quicker and approached the farm, and saw Heather waiting for me on the porch.

"Hey, Heather. Get ready, we're heading to your bunker today," I told her.

"Fan-fucking-tastic," she happily said as she handed me the key to the place. I looked at her with a confused look on my face before sticking the key in my pocket. I went and sat inside to take a break from walking to and from Red Rocket, and took off my bag and armor. After taking off the armor, I reached into my bag and grabbed a black t-shirt out of the bag and draped it over the arm of the chair. I then took off my shirt and folded it before sticking it in the bottom of my bag. After putting the black shirt on, I stood up and put my bag on, and grabbed my chest piece by a handle that was on the inside of it, and held the helmet in my other hand.

"Ready to head out?" I asked Heather as I exited the building.

"Ready," she said happily.

"Good, let's get moving," I said smiling. We headed out to the road and started heading in the direction of the bunker. We passed through Concord without trouble and kept walking until we came to Bedford Station nearby. When we got there, I saw it was packed with ferals, and put my helmet and armor on, before pulling out my 10mm. I made sure the magazine was loaded and said with a crap eating grin on my face, "Let's kill some ferals."

I ran forward as a feral had stood up and started to run at me. I fired a round into its leg, before turning and shooting another in its leg. There was one more in the boxcar in front of me, but Codsworth quickly took care of it while Heather had taken care of two more further down the rails.

"Keep it up!" I yelled as I kicked one of the ferals I had shot down in the head, then stomped on the head of the other. I then ran over to the station part where the boxcars are usually unloaded at and saw two ferals outside, and three more inside. I fire a round into the oil barrel by the two outside, not knowing it was full, and it exploded and burnt the ferals to crisps. Guess they can't stand heat. I then pulled out a Molotov and opened the door of the station. Before they saw me. I yelled. "Light the fuses, ferals!" I then threw the Molotov into the center of the area, and it lit them on fire. They growled in pain then tried to run at me, but at that point, I pulled my gun back out and fired a round into each of them. They all fell to the ground, and I was feeling thirsty. I pulled a bottle of water out of my bag and opened it. After I took my helmet off, I drank the water, and after drinking half of it, I gave the rest to Heather, who drank the rest. After that, we searched the boxcars for anything useful with Heather finding some Stimpaks in one and me finding some type of… gun in another.

"Hey, Heather," I say as I come out of the car with the gun. "What is this thing?"

Heather looked at it for a minute before saying, "That's a railway rifle. It shoots railway spikes and uses steam to shoot them."

"So pretty useless right now," I say as I handed the gun to her. "How valuable are one of these things?"

"About two hundred ninety caps," Heather said happily. "I'd buy it off you, but I don't have that many caps."

"Sweet," I say happily. "Well, let's get going. We're going to have to stay at your bunker for the night. By the time we get there, it's most likely going to be dark out, and another snowstorm is coming. I won't let a storm stop me during the day, but low visibility with it being dark and a snowstorm is a no-no without goggles. Unless you've got a pair, we'll be staying there for the night."

"Alright," she said as she adjusted her bag.

When we were sure we had everything, we continued walking, only running into molerats at the Rotten Landfill. And true to what I said, by the time we got there, it was dark out and snow was pouring heavily. I quickly opened it and got Heather in before jumping in myself. Codsworth would have to wait outside tonight.

"Home sweet home," I heard Heather say. I took a look around the place and smiled.

I saw a two-headed albino deer head on the wall and asked, "What's the story with the deer heads?"

"We were near the road to Lexington when that radstag came out of nowhere and charged my mom. She jumped up, grabbed it by the neck, and stabbed it through the heart with a combat knife. Woman was a fucking badass," Heather told me, smiling as she remembered her mother.

"You must've loved her a lot," I told her.

"I did," Heather told me. "And I still do."

That's good. Family is important.

"So do you have anything on your mind you want to talk about?" I asked her as I sat on her couch with my arms stretched over the back of it, while she sat next to me.

"You can never trust a synth. If you run into one, kill it. And if it looks human and you aren't sure? Kill it anyway."

"Okay, I'll try to remember that," I told her.

"So what's your story," she asked me. "You know mine, but I don't know yours. What is it?"

"Besides being frozen for two hundred and ten years, that's a hard one."

Heather looked amazed for a minute before saying, "That's awesome. So you were alive before the war?"

"Yeah," I told her with a smile. "Had a wife and kid. But then all this crap happened."

"So where are they now?" Heather asked curiously.

Should've known she would ask that.

"My wife was… murdered, and my son taken while we were in the vault. I'm making sure I'm strong enough to be able to fight the bastard who did it. He won't get to live to see the next day when I find him," I informed her with a bit of malice in my voice, clearly aimed towards the bastard.

"I can tell what you're going through," she said. "Sorry about your family."

"Don't be," I said as I patted her shoulder. "You couldn't have known. Anyway, it's nearly time for lights out. Tomorrow we're heading east. Going to see if anyone's made a home out the old communal settlement." I took my bag and armor off and leaned back closing my eyes for the night.

When I got up that morning, I grabbed some food out of my bag, sat at a table in the main room, and ate it. When I looked at the time on my Pip-Boy, I saw it was six-fifty in the morning, almost seven. I took a look through my bag and realized I would have to make a quick stop by Red Rocket. I had left some food there by mistake when I was leaving stuff there, so I would stop there, then continue heading east. It wasn't that much of a detour luckily, so it would be fairly easy to get to. I walked to the door and looked outside, and saw it was still snowing, and it was worse than it was yesterday.

I grabbed my bag and started digging through it until I found my flannel I kept in it. Always comes in handy when you're trying to stay warm. After putting it on, I grabbed my chest piece and plopped it on top of my flannel, then grabbed my helmet and sat down on the couch and waited for Heather to get ready. I couldn't exactly carry her up a ladder comfortably, now could I? While I was waiting, I had grabbed some paper and a pencil out of my bag and started writing. With nothing better to do, why not go ahead and write what's happened.

After a while, Heather came out with her hair down, framing her face. I was staring at her for a minute before she said, "What?"

I blinked for a second before saying, "Nothing. Just not used to your hair down. Anyway, get ready to leave in five minutes. It's still snowing, so you'll have to stay near me."

"On it," she said as she walked to her fridge and grabbed some food, before walking back to her room. I don't know what she did in those fifteen minutes, just that I was relieved when I saw her hair put up. Something about it being down just didn't feel natural to me.

"Come on," I said as I climbed up the ladder. When I got up, I helped Heather up by pulling her up.

"Come on," I told Codsworth as I turned around. He had to stay up here last night due to having to go down a ladder. It would've been hard getting him out. We started heading west and stopped at Bedford to make sure we lost no one.

After making sure everyone was here, we continued on the road through Concord and soon got to Red Rocket after two hours of walking from Heather's bunker. After grabbing the food I left, we started following the road again and stopped by the Abernathy's on the way. A fourth settler had joined them, a woman named Juliet, and I had her be the provisioner for the communal settlement once I cleared it out. I then made sure she had a decent gun, then started to walk to the old communal settlement in the west. We ended up finding a bus on the way there, which had a teddy bear that I grabbed and ran into a bloatfly and a giant crab.

We had walked around the lake and climbed the mountain to get to it because someone wearing dark green armor was on the bridge, so I was going to take care of them after making sure this place was clear.

When we got to the place, there was a Mr. Handy there, named Professor Goodfeels, that was saying "Far out," in a way that made it seem like he was on drugs.

I found the terminal that controlled him, and shut him down, then looked through the building for any ferals or undesirables, having noticed the dead feral in the barn. I found two in the lunchroom and quickly disposed of them. There was a radroach in the building next to it, but Codsworth went and took care of it. In another building, there were two ferals, but I threw a fragmentation grenade, having noticed they were stronger than the other ones. By the time we had cleared the place out, there were seven dead ferals and two dead radroaches. I drew up some plans and place them in the desk in the barn for the provisioner, along with a note explaining what they were. I looked around for the name of the place, and a sign on the barn told me.

Sunshine Tidings Co-Op.

I marked it on my Pip-Boy and turn to Heather when I notice she's thinking about something.

"What's on your mind?" I ask as I one up to her.

"This is working for me. I like traveling with you," she happily says.

"No problems here."

"Turns out, you're the best kind of partner. I'm still alive. I've got no new scars, and you never whine. It's perfect," she says cheerfully. "And fun! I haven't had this much fun in a long time."

"We're friends, no thanks necessary," I tell her calmly.

"It's meant a lot to me. I've done some shifting around, so I can carry more stuff for you. Probably twenty-five pounds or so, and I'm going to increase your discount. Seems like the right thing to do. I probably shouldn't price gouge a friend."

"Alright," I tell her. "Before you do anything, we're headed to a drive-in next. May take a day to get there."

"Ok," she happily says. We then start walking around Sunshine Tidings, along with Codsworth, and scrap everything here. It takes us twelve hours, and I found a survival book while we were cleaning up the place. Bad drawings, but taught me how to get more meat off animals. Nice. When we finish, we put together some bunks in one of the houses. Four bunks to be exact, so enough for eight people. When we're done we start to walk down the road. When we crossed the bridge, I was prepared to fight someone, but what I saw wasn't even a person. He could have been before all… this happened, but now he was a giant of a man, with green mutated skin. Guess what I saw wasn't a man in green armor, but a green man. The question is, what killed him? While we were walking, we come across an old toy store with a note attached to the door leading down. I try to open it but it's locked so I read the note.

Tweet,

If you're reading this, then you're an idiot. This is the last time I'm telling you, we're locking this door. Use the entrance in the sewer pipe. Next time you forget I'm locking your ass out permanently.

Walter

That was… interesting. Guess we were going to check this out real quick. Why would anyone lock the door out here unless they were bad people? I grab the combat knife out of the wall, replacing my switchblade with it, and climb down the hill to the drainage pipe, open it, and walk in. After Codsworth and Heather get come one behind me, I crouch down, and they follow my lead, with Codsworth just following slower to be quieter. I quietly pulled out Marie as we walked, having found more ammunition for her while in Sunshine. We come to an open space where two raiders are talking. I shoot the closest one in the head, then quickly turn and shoot the second. We stop for a minute and listen, not sure if anyone else is down here, probably are, and wait. After a minute of silence, we stand up and search the room. There's not much, just a magazine showing me how to get better prices with vendors and some ammunition. We then walk through the cave hallway and find two more people in the room it leads to. One of them hears me, and before he can react, I toss a grenade into the room and listen to the yell when it explodes. Guess that means I got both of them. I walk over to the body of what looks like the boss and find a key on him. I search the nearby safe, and find a combat rifle in it, along with some ammunition for it.

"Sweet!" I sang. Loudly. "Combat rifle!" I then start to do my happy dance while holding the rifle in my right hand.

"Are you all right, Mason?" Heather asks me as she comes up.

"Happy dance!" I sang happily. "No rhyme or reason!"

She looks confused before we go back to searching the rest of the place. When I'm done, I stick the rifle in my bag and walk out the door. I forget which way the road is from here, so I started to follow the highway instead.

Big mistake.

We were walking when I found an area where a weird formation of cars are. I almost went to check it out when I see something that makes me almost crap my pants. A giant, green man, nearly 14 feet tall. I immediately back away, crouch, and start to slowly walk around the area, keeping an eye to make sure it doesn't find me. After getting away from it and finding the road, I run into more trouble. Three guys wearing dark green armor. This time it was actually three guys. Well, actually one of them was a female, but the point is they're human. They also have a turret set up by them. That's great.

I pull Marie out and aim at the turret. Eight shots. That's how many it took from Marie to destroy the turret. The three people notice, and start looking around.

I turn to Heather and say, "Go for her." I then point at the female so she knows.

"On it," she says and heads for her.

"Go for him," I tell Codsworth, pointing at the man underneath the bridge.

"I'll get right to it, sir," he tells me.

I then turned towards the end of the bridge, where the final one is, and say, " The leader is mine."

I pull out my combat knife and I run towards him. He tries to shoot at me and manages to hit my right arm, but I ignore the pain and continue running until I get close to him. He tries to bash me with the stock of his rifle, but I push it away and say, "You're kidding me, right?"

"Die asshole," he says and tries to punch me this time.

'He's not wearing a chest piece,' I think as I use my left hand to stop his punch. I then use my new knife and sliced it across his chest, and before he had time to register the pain, I stabbed him in the side of his head. After that, I turned around to see if Heather and Codsworth needed any help, but Heather had already turned the woman into ash, and Codsworth? His target was burnt to a crisp.

"Check around the area for anything useful," I told them, then walked up to their checkpoint, and searched their lockers and turret for anything useful. The turret has ammunition I could use with the combat rifle, and the lockers had a laser pistol in it. I stick both things in my bag and walk down the bridge.

"You guys ready to go?" I ask them, smiling.

"Ready," Heather told me.

"Then let's get moving."

We start to follow the road, and not even thirty minutes later, I see the drive-in. The sun was setting, so I didn't want to see if there was anything I needed to fight. I looked for a place to sleep and notice a diner behind it. I'm walking up the road leading to it when I hear some people.

"We had a deal Trudy!" some man said. "Hand over the goods. You owe us."

"I ain't giving you poison-shilling chem pushers anything! Do you know what that junk has done to my boy?" Trudy yelled.

"He bought them fair and square, Trudy! Ain't our fault he's strung out," the man said."Now don't make me come in there and shoot up that little trading post of yours!"

I then walked up to the man, who immediately got defensive.

"Woah, Woah! Easy there scavver. This doesn't involve you," he said as he pointed the gun in my face.

"I'm calling it right here. This world can officially bite my booty," I said sarcastically.

"Hey, we all got problems, all right? I'm just trying to collect on what's owed to me," he said, not lowering his gun. "Don't suppose you feel like helping us out? Could use an extra gun, or maybe you can talk some sense into Trudy over there?"

"I'll talk to her. Maybe we can work this out," I told him, hoping to defuse this situation as peacefully as possible.

"I appreciate it. If things go sideways, we'll back you up."

After that little conversation, I walked into the diner to talk to the woman.

"Excuse me," I said as I approached the woman.

"I saw you and that poison-seller talking. Well, he ain't getting his money. Period."

"I want to help you, Trudy. What can I do?" I ask her. I never liked drug dealers, and that man definitely sold drugs.

"Get rid of Wolfgang! I don't know what he offered you, but I'll pay you a hundred caps to kill that Jet-selling scumbag," she told me.

"Alright, Trudy. I'll get rid of him."

"Thank you. I'll back you up from here. Go get him!"

I turn around and without leaving the diner, I pulled Marie out and fired two rounds into Wolfgang's chest and one into his friend's head.

"Hahaha! Can't wait to see the crows feedin' on that scumbag. Here, this is for you," she said as she handed me the hundred caps. "Now, if you ever need to trade, my shops open."

"I've got a few minutes to browse," I told her happily.

"It's all worth every cap I'm chargin'," she said as I started to look through what she had.

"How much is this sword?" I ask as I read the name.

General Chao's Revenge. Made to fight robots. That would be handy if I fought robots.

"One thousand three hundred forty-eight caps," Trudy told me.

"Thanks, but I'll pass," I told her I then walk out and see the sun hadn't set yet, so I walked to the drive-in and looked for any… creatures.

Seven creatures. Six molerats and one radroach. I had stabbed three of the molerats and the radroach, and Heather and Codsworth took care of the other three. After looking around for a place to sleep, I find a mattress at the top of the diner and sleep for the night.

The next morning when I woke up after I ate my breakfast, I started to walk around the place and scrap anything I could for parts. It was hard with these barrels in this puddle of water, but I managed to scrap them too. It took me three hours, the amount of time it took Heather to wake up. When she woke up, I went to her and told her the same thing I do every day.

"Get ready. We leave in fifteen minutes."

I found it odd how she hasn't complained once about me giving her fifteen minutes to get ready when she woke up. Seriously, not one time.

Once I made sure we had all our supplies, we started to head south to Lexington. It took about six hours, but we got to Lexington. Looking at the time, I realized I had gotten up at six. It didn't really bother me all that much, but before the bombs fell, that was considered early. I noticed the Super Duper Mart nearby and thought 'there must be a lot of supplies there.'

When I walked in, the first thing I noticed was how quiet it was. It wasn't the natural quiet, but the type that gave you messages that something was wrong.

I almost start to walk through the place, but I ran into some ferals. Three to be exact. I took care of the first one, and Heather killed the other two before I could even turn to them.

"Have I told you you're amazing?" I asked her.

"Nope," she told me honestly.

"Well, I should do it more often. You're amazing."

After that, we started searching the place for any more ferals.

Sixteen ferals. That's how many were in the place, including the first three we ran into. Two of them had good loot on it that would help in a fight, but they were pretty weak, so I just sold them to Heather. While we were searching through the place, we had found two dead Minutemen, one surrounded by three ferals, and the other in a room with two. They were both wearing blue uniforms, which I figured would be better put to use, so I took the uniforms and helmets they were wearing. One of them had a gas mask, so I grabbed that for when my normal helmet was under repairs. When we had finished searching, we had found a fusion core, the uniforms, a magazine that showed me more ways to get better prices from vendors, and quite a bit of Nuka-Cola.

After we got done, we walked out and started going east, towards the apartments to the east I knew were in Lexington. When I got there, I walked in and crouched, not knowing what was in there. I walked up the stairs and found a fragmentation mine. Before it went off, I disarmed it and continued up the steps. I disarmed a tripwire on the way up and grabbed a fragmentation grenade that was set as a trap. Whatever was here clearly didn't want us. When I got to the top of the stairs and opened the door, I saw a raider behind a corner, so I pulled out my combat knife and snuck up behind him. Before he had time to register I was there, I reached around with the blade and slit his throat. I turned around and saw that he had a friend, and I threw the knife into her eye.

"Check her for ammo," I told Heather.

"On it," she said.

I then crouched down and searched the man for any ammunition, and got some .38 rounds off of him. This was a really common type of ammunition, huh? After collecting all the good loot, I walked over to the female corpse and pulled my knife out her head. After I wipe the blood off it, using the rags the raider had been wearing, I put it away in my bag for the time being, and we began our walk back to Starlight Drive-In. As we were approaching the drive-in, we ran into a giant lizard. We crouched down, and I started to think of ways we could kill it. Last time I fight one of these things, I had a suit of power armor and a minigun.

"Fucking deathclaw," I heard Heather mutter. Guess people call these things deathclaws. That's when I thought of how to kill the thing.

"Heather, you stay and fire at it from here," I tell her. " Codsworth, come with me and help keep attention away from Heather."

"Okay, sir," Codsworth said. We then walked around it, and as I stood up, I pulled out Marie and shot it in its adorable face. It hurt me to do that. I should've shot its stomach. It roared after I shot it, and turns its attention to me.

I see Heather waiting, and I start firing more rounds into it. Codsworth goes up to it and starts attacking it with his flamer.

I sigh and think, 'Idiot!'

Heather's firing at it, and I keep doing the same to its stomach.

"Try to hit its stomach," I yell to Heather, noticing its stomach hurt more than its head when I shot it. That's useful information. I made a mental note to write it down after the fight and kept firing at it. After fifteen minutes of releasing oil, bullets, and lasers into it, it finally fell. I went up to it and collected the meat and leather from it, and when I was done, I turned and walked to the drive-in. I sat on a chair at the counter as I pulled a piece of paper out and quickly wrote down the deathclaws weakness. After writing it, I stuffed it back into my bag and grabbed Heather and Codsworth.

"We're heading back to Sunshine," I told them. "Drop what you don't need here, and keep what you do. Codsworth, any clothing, weapons, food, or armor I have given you, hold on to it."

"Okay," they both said, and dropped whatever junk they had by the workbench. I made sure they didn't leave anything important behind, then started walking to Sunshine. While we were walking, we stopped by the diner, and I got some ammunition for my pistol from Trudy. It took us six hours to get there, but I soon see Sunshine is only a fifteen-minute walk away now. On the way across the concrete bridge, where we found the dead giant green man, we ran into three people, a trader and her bodyguards. They offered some chems, but I kept a stoic look and walked past them. Other people can use chems for all I care but don't offer me any. I refuse to use them.

We got to Sunshine Tidings, I see the people here have already started building the walls I planned for them. At least, they have the gate up already. I walk in, and I assign the first person I see to guard duty. The next one, I give him some plans for Starlight and assign him to be the provisioner of that place.

"I'll have some people bring the beacon parts there," I tell the man.

"Okay," he happily says. I then walked to the bunkhouse where the bunk beds are, and climb into one before closing my eyes for the night.

When I wake up the next morning, the sun is still rising. I looked at the time on my Pip-Boy, and see it's six in the morning. I head out and leave Sunshine, with Codsworth following me and Heather still asleep. I knew I would be back before she woke up, so I don't leave a note. There was one particular spot I hadn't gone to yet, and it was the only one I hadn't gone to yet. I start to walk to it, and see that all is in this are is one chapel in the middle of nowhere. I figured there may be a reason for it being out here, so I marked the place on my map as Lonely Chapel. While I'm searching the place, I find a body with what looks like armor that would be worn in a desert. Weird. I travel back to Sunshine, where Heather is waiting for me at the gate. Saves me some time.

"Come on," I tell her with a smile. "We're heading back to Sanctuary a day early."

"Isn't it two days, sir?" Codsworth asked politely. "We've only been gone for five, and you told Mr. Sturges you'd be gone for seven."

"It's going to take the rest of the day to get to the truck stop. I want to explore the sewer the deathclaw came out of to see if there's anything worth it in there," I explain to him. "There may be some creatures down there."

"All right then," Codsworth says, and we start walking. On the way, we take a little detour and stop by Abernathy's.

"Blake," I say as I'm climbing the steps to the guard tower he's in.

"How can I help you, Mason?" He asks.

"If there's anyone not assigned to any tasks, assign one more to guard duty. You can't be the only guard."

"All right," Blake says.

"If there's anyone else, assign them to farming. If they run out of plants to assign to, give them some tato seeds."

"Okay," he says, then follows me down the stairs. I then head to Concord, where I find the sewer the first deathclaw I fought came out. I walk in, and I'm thinking, 'Can they shrink?' There's no way it should've got down here, so I assumed it could do that. I really hoped they couldn't though. I then start searching the place for any creatures and find six molerats, three radroaches, and one giant crab. The crab I killed with a fragmentation grenade, knowing I couldn't take it on in a fight, despite what I've already fought. I killed the molerats with my pistol and the roaches with my combat knife. I collected the meat off them, and the teeth from the molerats. For some reason, one of the radroaches had a metal chest piece for a human that could light the attacker on fire. Why would a radroach need one? After searching the rest of the area, I found a tattoo magazine that showed an eagle. Sweet, not really. Tattoos are permanent, and while they do fade away I don't want one when I grow old. I leave the place after searching it and soon get to Red Rocket. I see more people here, and I start to build a terminal to keep track of everyone and their jobs. When I'm done, I assign everyone to guard duty. It matters more about this place being guarded than scavenging. Can't scavenge if you're not safe. After that, I make some clothing for the guards, and I fix their guns up for them as well. Pipe weapons are all they have, so I made them like the last ones. After I'm done, I notice it's getting late, so I crawl into one of the beds and close my eyes for the night.


	6. New Vegas Short: Benny's Death

It's taking me longer to finish the next chapter than I thought it would, so I'm putting in this short that will give you a hint of what's to come in the New Vegas story I'll be doing after this one.

As I walked out into the Legion Arena, I only had one thought in mind. Get as much blood out of Benny as I can! I'd see Benny standing there, and a wide, unnerving smile that caused Benny to look scared for a minute before he recomposes himself.

"Let's have a little bit of fun, shall we," I said, more as a statement than a question.

"Come on Kargorna! Surely we can work something out!" Benny said as I walked slowly towards him.

"You shot me in the head and left me for dead," I said with malice evident in my voice. "And when I confronted you, you tricked me and ran with your tail between your legs. I'm going to have the time of my life gutting you like I do to every baddy I come across! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haa!" I then ran at him, and before he could react, I took my knife and slashed it across his chest, before flipping it around and slamming the blade hilt deep into his shoulder.

"Damn you!" Benny yelled at me as he tried to throw a right hook at me. I blocked it using my arm and said in a sing-song voice "That's a no-no."

I then released the knife, reached my hand out and slashed up at him. Yes, slashed. As in I used my fingernails to scratch his face. Luckily I hadn't chewed them off for days and they were long enough to hurt him.

He grunted in pain before I kneed him in the stomach, grabbed and yanked my knife out of his shoulder.

"You don't get to keep Alice," I said happily as I put the knife away. "She's mine and mine alone."

"Putting that knife away was a big mistake," Benny said as he pulled out his own.

"Nah. I use weapons as a handicap. Makes fighting more fun. But you, I want to take my time with my hands."

Benny then tried to stab me in the stomach, but I grabbed his wrist as I twisted my body and elbowed him in the side of the head, causing his vision to go blurry, pulling his knife away on the process, which I tossed away. While he was dazed, I grabbed the back of his head and brought his head down while I brought my knee up, breaking his nose as I kneed him in the face.

"You shouldn't be so cocky," I told him. "I never have bodyguards. Unlike you!" I then laughed my sadisticly, which caused some of the legionaries in the watching to feel uneasy. Fortunately for them I didn't want to take over this place. Not yet at least.

"You know nothing of fighting!" I yelled as I grabbed the back of his head. "You couldn't even kill me properly! What makes you think you could have ever taken over the Strip?!"

After that, I punched him full force in the face, sending him stumbling to the ground. I then grabbed his knife off the ground, and pulled my own out and said, " Let's see if you can breathe with your own intestines wrapped around your throat."

I then stripped him of his jacket, and sliced his blade across his stomach. It was a nice jacket, so I wasn't going to get blood from his stomach on it. I then sliced the other knife going the other way, and pulled out his insides, and started to wrap it around his throat, the blood and flesh feeling amazing in my hands. After wrapping it around his throat, I then showed him to everyone by holding him up by his insides. I could see the lift leaving his eyes and whispered in his ear, "When I'm done, I'll be known as the Demon of the Strip." I then dropped him to the ground, and for good measure, sliced his head off, deciding to keep it as a trophy. When he tried to kill me, he should've made sure I stayed dead. I then looked at Caesar, and said "Thanks for the fun."

I then started to laugh. This wasn't one of my ordinary laughs though. This one was of joy, happy that I had finally gotten my revenge on the bastard that shot me on the head. I then turned to Caesar, and said "Thanks for the fun. Now, about that chip."


	7. Chapter 6: Graygarden Part One

I could tell Codsworth and Heather both had wanted to ask me something the previous night, but I had gone to sleep before they could talk to me. I got out of the bed and took my armor off, opting for a more comfortable flannel and vest, putting the armor in my bag. I knew Codsworth was most likely roaming around the area, so I went to find him, which was a little difficult since it was three in the morning. I don't know why, but I always had to get either less or more than eight hours of sleep. If I slept eight exactly, I would feel like I'm walking through syrup all day. I turned on the flashlight of my Pip-Boy and started searching for Codsworth. I found him hovering outside the partially built walls of the place and walked up to him.

"Sir, perhaps now would be a good time to speak?" He asked.

"Sure," I tell him. "What's on your mind, Cods?"

"So gracious, sir! I do appreciate it," he told me happily. "I've always had such admiration for you and your family, ever since that day my visual sensors were first switched on. You and the missus."

Of course, I trusted him. I couldn't trust anyone more than him, even if he was programmed for it, he still had his own personality.

"So good with young Shaun, and so trusting of me to look after such a newborn bundle of joy. It just warms my nuclear core. So, you can imagine the distress I felt when the bombs fell after you fled to the vault. I searched but found no evidence of your death. I could only hope you all made it in time! And when you returned, I was overjoyed! I admit I ran a full diagnostics scan just to be sure I wasn't malfunctioning. But the news. The news of the missus and young Shaun. Believe me when I say it takes a true hero to live through that."

I wasn't a hero. All I had done was help out a few settlements and paved the way for three more while traveling. Any halfway decent person would have done it.

"I'm no hero, Codsworth," I tell him. "Believe me, I am far from one."

"Don't sell yourself short, sir," Codsworth said joyfully. "In such a bleak world as this, think all you've witnessed, and all you've done. In my two hundred years, I've seen it tear men and women apart. But you sir, you have remained the very model of what humanity should aspire to be."

I never knew. I just did what I felt was necessary to find Shaun. If I was too weak, I wouldn't be able to get to the bastard who took him, and he could kill me instead.

"I didn't realize you felt that way, Cods. I don't know what to say."

"You have nothing to say, sir. I just… felt you should know what you've come to mean to me. I truly believe if the Commonwealth is to turn itself around, you're the one to do it. Now not another word! I stand firm in my belief. Let's get back to it."

After he finished telling me what was on his mind, we get to work on the walls. Codsworth was building up the walls, I was reinforcing them from behind. With us working together, along with the help of settlers as they woke up, we got the walls built in nine hours. I grabbed my bag from the bed I had slept in the previous night and grabbed some food from it. I sat at the table that was set up outside and enjoyed the food quietly. After five minutes, I felt Heather sit next to me and asked, "What's on your mind?"

"I have a couple of presents for you," she said as she handed me a 10mm and some ammunition. "And I'm increasing your discount again. I hate charging you, but I need to stay in business. You know, it feels like we've been together forever. Struck gold the day you agreed to travel with me. I love being with you."

"There's more to this, isn't there?" I asked her.

"More to me and you? I'd like that," she said.

Was she flirting? I really couldn't tell, even if it had happened to me a lot before the war, so maybe she just meant being best friends. Eh, I'll worry about it later. After grabbing our bags, and stuffing my armor into mine, we walk out the gates of Red Rocket and go to Sanctuary.

"Hey, buff man!" I yelled happily as I approached the gates. "I'm back a day early!"

"So you are," Sturges joyfully said. "I knew you couldn't stay gone for too long."

"It was only six days, Sturges," I said as I climbed the watchtower and stood next to him. "Do you remember the zones I showed you on my Pip-Boy?"

"Sure do."

"Well I'm heading here in two days" I informed him, pointing to zone three. "Make sure everyone knows to get plenty of sleep tonight. Tomorrow, we're going to be working on upgrading this place. For instance, because we have no lights, you can't see very well at night, can you?"

"No, we can not."

"Okay then. I'm going to be going to my house and drawing up some plans for tomorrow," I told him with joy. I can't wait to see how the rest of these settlers building skills are.

I walk to my house and set my bag down by the bar. Apparently, someone managed to contact a trader in the past couple of days, because now we had enough building materials to last us for a while. Luckily they only used the one I gave Sturges, as I had kept the other four in my back pocket. I walk back out to the workshop, and grab an oil lamp from the junk pile we have, as well as some oil, and take it back to my house. After putting oil into the lamp, I take off my bag and pull some paper from it, and sit down at the bar on a stool. I hunch over the bar as I start writing, making sure to make it readable to normal people. Meaning I had to write bigger than I preferred. I guess I should explain my handwriting. I wrote in all caps, having started in middle school since it took less time for me than using both forms of letters, with the ones that were supposed to be lowercase smaller than that of the capital ones. It was odd at first, my parents and teachers not understanding why I did it, but they got used to it since I refused to go back to the normal way. After about three hours, I had finished writing the plans for power pylons, lights, and generators, making two copies of each, one for me and one for the others. I knew I would have to make a concrete building for the generators instead of a metal or wood, metal being already being used for walls and power nylons, and wood is too flammable.

It was getting dark out, so I lit the lamp, and put the already finished plans in my bag while pulling more paper out for the plans for the walls. It took me nearly three hours, trying to figure out how to make a concrete wall until I finally figured it out. After I finished writing the plans for it, I stuck the plans into my bag and grabbed the lamp. For the rest of the night, up until six the next morning, I started marking areas where lamp posts and pylons would be built, planning on having the building for generators built next to the house across the street from mine. Along with a bell for people to gather when I rang it, I had managed to put together some halfway decent tables in the night for them to sit at when lunch rolled around on a foundation outside the wall, but oh well. I also put together a break time bell to let them know when it was time to stop working, and when it was time to get back to work. I started to ring the bell and waited for everyone to get here. After about three minutes of ringing it, and my arm feeling numb from ringing it, everyone got here. I did a headcount and saw that we had fifteen people here now, which would crunch the bed situation, but would get around to it when we finished the lighting. If they can't see at night if undesirables attacked, what would the point of beds be? That would be basically saying to raiders, 'Hey, come take over this settlement.' I mean sure, we had walls, but if a raider with a Fatman and mini-nuke came with a crew to destroy or take control of any settlement, they would be able to knock the walls down quite easily. They weren't made of… now that I think about it what can survive a mini-nuke blast without taking a significant amount of damage? After everyone had gathered around, I walked around and gathered the names of the people that I didn't know, happy to see that Tyler was here.

After getting their names, I wrote them down into three groups of five, since I would be having Heather and Codsworth working with me on walls and generators. I see almost everyone stand up until I yelled "Sit down! You're not doing your normal jobs today!"

I was glad Tyler was here, even if I barely knew him. Heck, I barely knew any of the people here, but giving them a chance to live here is worth it, even if they didn't appreciate anything about the place.

"Today we'll be putting up working lights and power here. That means on the sidewalks and the houses in the walls."

I then handed Sturges the plans for the lights at night and the paper with his group on it.

"Buff man, I need you to take these four and start putting up lamppost starting on the right side of the gate. When you're done with that, start on the construction lights outside the walls."

"Sure thing," Sturges said smiling, then got up and grabbed the longs and other two settlers I had him working with.

I then turned to Preston and handed him his paper along with the plans.

"Take these four and get started on the power pylons. These could take a while, considering the placement of each, since we'll also have lights outside the walls."

"Sure thing General," Preston said as he grabbed Mama Murphy and four of the settlers.

"Tyler, you'll be taking care of these four," I said as I handed him the paper with his group on it. "You'll be getting concrete walls built to house the generators that Heather, Codsworth and I will be working on. It'll take almost a full day for the concrete to be safe to mess with without messing it up, and about another month for it to be completely finished."

"Alright, man," he said as he stood up and grabbed the four he would be working with. "What do we do if we finish early?"

"Help either Sturges' or Preston's group." I then yawned as I said, "Generators are too important. Heather, Codsworth and I will be working on those alone." After we finished talking, we went to where the resources were kept and grabbed the resources we needed. I had counted the number of lampposts and construction lights being made, as well as how much power would be put into the houses, and knew we would need at least six large generators to provide enough power. It was a pain but would be worth it in the end. After done with all the stuff here, I was going to have to make copies of the plans and send them to the other five settlements that I helped. I had to make sure they had lights and power as well. I grabbed the nuclear material and aluminum we needed while Heather and Codsworth collected the rest of the materials needed.

"You guys know this will probably take all day, right?" I asked them.

"We're making generators. Large ones. Of course, it's going to take a while," Heather replied.

"I don't require sleep, so I'll be all right sir," Codsworth happily said.

"Okay. Follow me with the parts to the foundation for the generators," I said, glad they didn't seem to have a problem with working all day.

"All right," I said as we came up to the foundation. "Here's how it's going to work. Heather, you'll be working on making a generator over there," I told her as I pinged to the back right corner when looking from the street, then pointed to the front left and said, "Codworth, you'll be putting one together over there. If you ever have questions, just come find me."

"On it," Heather said with a smile while Codsworth said, " Of course, sir."

I grabbed the materials I needed for a generator and walked to the front right corner. About three hours later, I had to take off my flannel and work in my tank top due to the heat. It may have been winter, but working makes the body heat up.

While we were working, I stopped to check on everyone else's progress. Sturges' group was making good progress with the lights, while Preston's was doing okay with the power pylons. When noon rolled around, I walked out to the table area and hit the break time alarm, letting the settlers know to come.

After everyone got there, I happily said, "Alright everyone. Get some food and eat. Won't do anyone any good to work on an empty stomach. Don't forget to drink water."

I sat down at one of the tables and ate my food while talking to some of the settlers. Turns out some of them had been traveling for weeks and couldn't find a place to call home. I was going to change that for them. After everyone had finished eating I walked out and hit the work signal, letting them know to get back to work. I was about to walk back to work on the generators when I heard a bark to the north.

"You two head back to work," I told Heather and Codsworth. "I've got to go check something out."

Then before they said anything, I started walking north where I heard the bark. After about ten minutes. I was walking through the woods and came across a dog. A Golden Retriever to be exact.

"Hey boy. What are you doing out here all by yourself?" I ask as I approach it. It is a boy, right? After checking, I see it's definitely a boy.

"You wanna come with me, pal?" I ask as I pat its head. It barks and I say, "All right then. Let's head to Sanctuary."

It barked happily and we started to walk back to Sanctuary, on the way there, I decided on its name.

"I think I'll name you Zeus," I tell it, deciding to name it after the king of the Greek gods. After getting back to Sanctuary, I found one of the old dog houses and moved it to the front of my house. Luckily this one hadn't been far in the first place, so it didn't take long to move. After moving the dog house, I grabbed a dog bowl from the storage and went to my house. I grabbed two cans of dog food from a cooler and some water from the pump I had set up when cleaning up Sanctuary. I set the two cans of dog food on the counter, then took out my knife to open them. After opening them I walked out, grateful that someone had put a dog bowl out for Dogmeat, and poured water into one side of the two food bowls, then dumped the dog food into the other. Dogmeat and Zeus both came over and started eating, and I crouched and started petting their heads.

"What are you doing?" I heard someone ask behind me. I looked over and saw Tyler standing there, and smiled.

"Just petting these two," I told him. "It amazes me how there are still normal animals. You wouldn't have thought they would survive, but they did."

"They probably had them in a vault," Tyler said, sitting down next to me. "They probably would be mutated by the radiation otherwise. Now tell me: you're not from here are you? You've got too many teeth to be a scavver."

"I came from a vault, that's all," I told him, not bothering to lie. No point in it if he's going to be leading this place.

"You were a vault dweller? No wonder you know how to make all these contraptions," Tyler said with a smile.

"It's not that, I just studied engineering books in my time off. I worked security before the vault went to hell."

"What caused the vault to fail?" Tyler asked.

"Ran out of supplies. People turned on each other to survive. Had to leave just to live."

"Well, you certainly know how to survive. Weren't you traveling for a week before coming back?" Tyler mentioned, not completely accurate.

"Six days," I told him. "I finished searching the area a day early.." After standing straight up and stretching, I grinned and said, "Come on, we've got to get back to work."

With the conversation over, I walked back to where the generators were being built and saw Heather and Codsworth working on their second ones. I got back to working on the second generator I had to make, and pretty soon three hours had passed and I got my second generator done. I helped Heather and Codsworth finish theirs, which took one and a half hours for each, so by the time we had finished, it was nearing seven, and I was sweating like a pig. I grabbed the hem of my shirt and wiped my face with it, and a few settlers walking by eyes grew wide when I did. They probably didn't see many guys without a shirt. I walked to the house and grabbed two bottles of water before walking back to the generators, walked up to Heather, and said "Take a breather," while tossing a bottle of water to her. I drank some of my water and said, "We're done here. Get some buckets of water from the water pumps and wash off." I turned to leave and started to check on the lamp post that had been set up, as well as the pylons and conduits. For the most part, they were all fine, just had to fix a few wires here and there. When I checked on the concrete walls, they were mostly done, and only needed to dry, and that would take about a month. I headed to the table area, which I am now going to call a dining area instead, and hit the quitting time alarm.

I left the area, having only gone to it to let the settlers know they were done for the day, and grabbed some copper wire from the workshop. I used the wire to connect all the generators together, then used some of it to connect a generator to a pylon by the foundation. I watched the lights turn on around the place and smiled. It had been getting dark out, so when the lights turned on, I was thankful I wouldn't have to use my Pip-Boy light. It wasn't the neatest job, but it's not like this was permanent. We'd get better lighting in the future after I looked at different lights and tried to figure out how to make them.

I headed back to my house where Heather and Codsworth were waiting and grinned as I walked in.

"Long day, sir," Codsworth asked as I sat on the couch. Sometimes I forget he's a machine and time passed normally to him.

"Yeah, luckily we got a new dog," I told him cheerfully.

"I noticed," Heather said. "He seems nice."

"Treat a dog right, and they're a man's best friends. Besides, they're adorable, especially when young."

I then stood up and said, "Do you mind letting the others know they can return to their normal jobs tomorrow? All Tyler's group has to do is check on the walls occasionally for twenty-eight days."

"On it," she answered.

I then walked to my bedroom, where I took off my clothing besides my underwear and crawled into my bed, then closed my eyes and slept for the night.

When I got up that morning, after I put on my pants, a tank top, and a flannel, I walked outside and saw Preston standing on one of the guard towers, and approached him.

"Anything you need," Preston asked.

"Come with me. After I give you some equipment I'll need your help."

"Sure thing General. I think the folks here can manage on their own thanks to you," Garvey said.

"Mr. Garvey," Codsworth said. "I'm sure you will take good care of my master. Good day to you both."

I turned to Codsworth and said, "I'll need you to stay here and take over Preston's guard duties. Can you do that for me?"

"Of course, sir."

"Alright. Come on Preston. You'll need to wait in my house for a bit while I fix up your gear."

"Whatever you need, General," Preston said as he followed me.

When I walked in, I grabbed my bag, and pulled out the desert outfit and brought it to the armor workbench, where I improved the armor on it a bit to take more damage and added a holster to it for a pistol. I know he likes to use his laser musket, but he couldn't always rely on it. He could run out of ammo in the middle of a fight. How does he have so many fusion cells in the first place?

I finished fixing up the armor and walked to the back and grabbed a pipe revolver. After upgrading it a bit, I grabbed the armor and brought both things to Preston.

"Here," I said as I handed them to him. "Go put this armor on and keep this pistol on you. That way if you get into a tight situation, you won't have to rely solely on your rifle."

"Thanks, General," Preston replied. "Are we heading out after?"

"We are after I make sure we've got food to last a few days. Just meet me by the gate in thirty minutes."

When I was done talking to Garvey, I walked into the house and grabbed one of the coolers off the counter, opened my fridge, and put the radroach and molerat meat into it. After I finished putting the meat into the cooler, I grabbed my bag and strapped it to the bottom of it. After putting dog food and a bowl in the bag, I put my bag on, then grabbed Heather's bag and walked out to her

"Here," I said, handing her bag to her. "We're heading out soon, so be ready. When we stop by Drumlin Diner, I'll see if they have any armor you could use."

Heather smiled and said, "Nice!"

"Oh, before we go, Codsworth won't be coming with us. He's staying here. Dogmeat and Preston will be coming with us instead. You alright with that?" I asked her.

"I don't really know Preston or Dogmeat, but if their good with you, it's fine with me," she smiled.

"All right, meet me by the gate in twenty-five minutes."

I started to walk around Sanctuary and checked out how I could use the entire space. I figured at the most we could house two hundred here, and that's if we built up and had the Abernathy's and the farmers there could produce enough food to send here. Most of the settlements could probably hold that many as well, but I would have to build enough water purifiers here first. I took some paper from my bag and began to write down ideas for all possible solutions to the problems until it was time to go. I had about three pages worth of ideas, but until the problems arose, they would just remain as that, ideas.

"Come on, boy," I smiled as I walked by Dogmeat. "Time to get this show on the road."

I walked up to Codsworth who was at Garvey's post by the front gate.

"So Cods, will you be good here for a couple weeks?" I asked him with a smile.

"As long as Mr. Garvey can protect you, I will be fine, sir."

"Just checking. I'll see you in a few weeks."

"Of course, sir."

I walked to Garvey and Heather who were both waiting by the gate and said, "Okay, here's how we're going to travel. Garvey, you'll be at the front, setting our pace for us. No offense, but you're most likely slower than Heather and I."

"Are you sure, General?" Garvey questioned. "I can follow behind if you need me to."

"I'm sure Preston," I answered, then turned to Heather. "Heather, you'll be behind him, making sure he has a back-up if we do get attacked from the front."

"Where will you and Dogmeat be?" Heather asked."

"We'll be following you from the rear," I told her. "The only reason for this is because Dogmeat will want to be by my side unless we run into enemies. Then he'll most likely try to hold them down for me to get rid of. And Heather, sorry if I seem… bossier, than when Codsworth was traveling with us, but when we were traveling with him, it was just Codsworth, who while I consider him a person like us, is still a literal machine I can repair if needed, and you, who is far stronger than I am right now. But now, we got Preston, who is weaker than me, no offense."

"None taken," Garvey said.

"And Dogmeat, who I don't want dying anytime soon."

"It's alright," Heather said. "At least you're using your head."

"Okay then, let's get moving. Preston, when we get to the Museum of Freedom, take a right and the next turn we come to, I'll give you direction."

"Whatever you need General," Garvey said.

"Alright, let's head out." I then turned around and yelled, "See you in a few weeks, Cods!"

"Good day, sir," Codsworth said happily. We began walking, and while we were, I put on Diamond City Radio, knowing that they would probably want to listen to something besides classical music. I will say, the radio host, Travis Miles, needed a serious confidence booster. I sang along to some of the songs, and danced weirdly to them, making Heather laugh and Garvey to look at me weirdly after a few hours.

"Hey, smile a little," I told him as we approached Lexington. "I know you've been through a lot, but you'll look better with a smile."

"I'll try, sir," Garvey said as he tried to smile.

"Close enough," I said as we were walking when I felt the need to stop.

"Hold your positions real quick," I told Heather and Preston, then turned to Dogmeat.

"Wait here boy, I'll be right back."

"Is everything alright General?" Garvey asked.

"Just got a bad feeling. Just wait here for a minute," I answered him, then turned to Heather. "If I hit the transponder, that means I'll need you guys to come help. Got it?"

"Of course," Heather said.

I then walked ahead of them and crouched before I started to sneak forward. Whatever was ahead was probably trouble and would cause Heather and me to have problems. I leaned against the side of a trailer, and when I got near the end, I saw two suits of power armor standing over a man in one. I thought nothing of it at first, until one of the suits moved on its own. How the Hades is this thing moving? There's no one inside! I grabbed the transponder and hit the button, alerting Heather to grab Garvey and Dogmeat. I quietly put my armor on, including my helmet, and took out my combat rifle, and aimed it at the nearest one. I figured the fusion core was what was powering it, so if I destroyed that, it would shut down. Probably blow up too, but that would help with the second one. I shot the fusion core and hit right in the center, which caused it to start glowing. The suits noticed me and turned and fired their laser rifles at me. Why do they have laser rifles? They can lift one of these trucks. Two of their shots hit me, one in the right shoulder, and the other in the head. I held onto the rifle with my right hand and used my left to grab my shoulder, while my vision turned blurry. Luckily the armor and helmet kept the lasers from hitting, but it didn't stop the force of the laser from hurting. Shit, that hurts!

I turned around and started to walk away, not able to see clearly, and could just make out the outlines of Heather coming up. As I sped up, one of the lasers hit my left leg, causing me to stumble and fall to the ground. While I couldn't see clearly, I saw Heather had pulled out her rifle and was firing it at the suits, while Garvey had come up to me and was now supporting me by having my left arm wrapped around his shoulders.

"Like I said," I grunted. " A bad feeling."

"Will you be alright General?" Garvey asked, worry evident in his eyes.

"Just get me a stimpak. I'll be fine after," I told him as I pointed at my bag. He quickly grabbed one from my bag and injected it into me. I couldn't use my left arm with it wrapped around Garvey's shoulders, and my right hand holding my rifle. My vision began to clear up, and the pain in my leg and shoulder began to disappear.

After downing a bottle of water, I turned to Garvey and told him, "Now come on. We've got to help Heather." I clutched my rifle in my hands before turning back to the suits. When I got back to the fight, I saw Heather rolling to the side and avoiding the lasers. I need to ask her to teach me that sometime.

"Preston, help her keep its attention off me," I told him. "I'm going to try to rip the fusion core out of it."

"That has got to be-" Garvey started before I interrupted him.

"A stupid idea, I know. But right now it's that, or I shoot its core, causing another explosion, and I really don't think that would be a good idea considering where it is," I told him, pointing at the truck it was standing in front of.

Garvey sighed in defeat "As you wish General."

He ran to Heather while I stayed by the trailer attached to the truck, put my rifle away, and waited until he got its attention. As soon as he did, I snuck up behind it, hoping the lasers firing and yelling would cover the noise of my stomping, and got right behind it, stepping on metal that scraped the ground, alerting the suit of my presence. I quickly grabbed onto the fusion core, held onto it right, and kicked the back of the thing. I walked forward before the arms of it relaxed and the head hung down like it was never moving in the first place.

"Is it dead," Heather asked as Dogmeat came up to me and began licking my free hand.

"Should be, it doesn't have any more power running through it from what I can tell," I informed them. "But I don't want to power it up until I know it can't control itself anymore. I'll send some settlers to grab these suits from Starlight when we get there. Don't want to take the chance they'll power up again."

I took at the fusion core in my hand before sticking it in my bag.

"We could get a fair amount of caps for that," Garvey said.

"Or keep it for any power armor frames we come across," I told him. "Probably a lot of them spread across the Commonwealth. Now let's get going before the adrenaline wears off."

"Adrenaline?" Heather asked.

"Basically the pain of my injuries won't hurt for a while. Which is why we're backtracking and stopping at Starlight for the night. Grab the fusion rifles off them, could you?"

When Garvey grabbed two of the rifles, and Heather grabbed the one from the corpse, we headed to the diner, and I turned the radio back on, this time just listening to the radio.

After about twenty minutes, the adrenaline began to wear off, the pain returning. Luckily the stimpak had repaired most of the damage from the force, mostly the bruising, but the pain was still there.

It took an hour, but we got to Starlight and I took off my helmet and smiled as I walked through the gate.

When we walked into the drive-in, I was happy to see that the settlers here had already started to build walls and guard towers here without me having to tell them. That makes me a proud General. I came in through the front gate and found the nearest settler working on the wall. I approached her and stuck out my hand.

"I haven't introduced myself. I'm Mason Black," I beamed.

"Alice Campbell," she replied as she shook my hand warily. "How can I help you?"

"You mean besides making sure at least half the settlers are scavengers, that's a tough one," I answered. "I'm the one who had the beacon put here."

"I'm sorry," she replied. "I didn't realize."

"Don't be. I had to kill molerats and a radroach to get this place safe for people, so anyone living here is fine by me. It's why I set the beacon up. Can I assume you're the one who's led the people to start building these walls and towers?" I asked her.

"How could you tell?"

"Your hair is tied in a ponytail, and you're in pants and a tank top. That, and you had a firm handshake. Surprised that people still know a good handshake goes a long way," I explained, happy to see that handshakes still went a long way.

"You're observant," she commented.

"I don't try to be," I replied. "Anyway, I'm just staying the night. Do you have any spare beds?"

"Just two I'm afraid," Alice told me. "Sorry."

"No problem. I can sleep on the couch in the building over there," I said pointing to the building the key to the shed had been in. "I'll just lock the door so no one comes in."

"If you're sure," she replied, then went back to working on the walls.

I went and sat at the bar, and Preston sat next to me.

"Is now a good time for that talk?" He asked as I took out a bottle of water.

"Sure thing Preston. What's up?" I questioned.

"We can finally start thinking about more than just survival," Garvey began. "We've gotten big enough that we're having trouble communicating with all our settlements. It's a good problem to have, and I have a solution. I think it's time to retake the castle. It used to be the Minutemen HQ, way before my time. Well fortified, centrally located, and most important, it has a powerful radio transmitter that can broadcast across the whole Commonwealth."

"So what happened to this 'Castle' if it was so well fortified?" I asked since he said it should've been able to protect against most attacks.

"This was long before I joined up," he admitted, "but the story I heard was that some kind of monster cake out of the sea and destroyed the fort." Odd, sounds like it could've been and even bigger crab than what was in the sewers. "A lot of them were killed in that battle, and I guess nobody ever felt it was worth the risk to retake it. I've always wondered if losing the radio station was the beginning or all our later problems. So should I have an assault force assemble near the castle?"

I held my chin and thought about it before saying, "No, we're not ready yet," I reply, having a gut feeling we weren't prepared for this yet, even with Heather.

"Your call. Just let me know when you're ready to pull the trigger. I'll let you know if I hear of any settlements that need our help. In the meantime, make sure to offer help to anyone that needs it. That can only help our cause," Garvey replied and went to get water from a water pump.

I put my bag down and took my armor off, setting it on top of the bag and setting the helmet in front of it.

"Heather, you can tend to my wounds now that we're safe," I told her.

"On it," she said as she looked at my wounds. While she was doing this, I had taken out some paper to write down plans for walls here so they were sturdier than they currently were.

"Hey, can you give these to Alice?" I ask Garvey as Heather is wrapping my arm. "They're plans to make the walls sturdier."

"Of course General," Preston replied as I turned to look at Heather as she finished wrapping my arm.

I stood up, leaning into my right leg, and turned to Heather.

"Come on," I tell her. "Let's head to the room in that building for my leg wound."

"Sure," she smiled, and I grabbed my bag and armor and led her to the room of the giant building movies would be played on. I sat down on the couch and closed the door, and went to the couch, laying on my stomach since I got hit in the back of my leg.

"So is it fine like I thought, or is it bad?" I questioned as Heather looked at it.

"It's just a minor burn from being hit by a laser. Another stimpak should heal it," Heather replied, holding one out to me.

"Keep it," I replied. "The pain will be gone by morning. Besides, those dehydrate people. Heals wounds fast but makes you need more water. So I'll be fine."

"Alright. Will you be fine here for the night?" Heather asked.

"Yeah. I'm just going to get some writing done, then go to sleep for the night," I answered. I then stood on my good leg as I got in front of her, noticing for the first time how the top of her head reached my nose.

"You know, I don't believe I've told you this, but you're extremely lovely to look at," I beamed.

Her eyes went wide before turning her head to the side, avoiding my gaze.

I scratched my neck and said, "Uh, I guess you need to find a bunk to sleep in for the night. Well, I'll see you in the morning."

After that little exchange, I opened the door for Heather to head to the bunkhouse. After she had left, I closed the door behind her and laid down on the couch, pulling some paper out to write.

All I really had to write was what had happened the past few days, but the only mildly interesting that had happened was the power armor suits walking and shooting like raiders. Actually, they managed to hit me, so they were better shots than them.

After about four hours of writing, I checked the time on my pip-boy and realized it was getting late. So I put the paper away and went to bed for the night.


	8. Chapter 7: Graygarden Part Two

When I woke up that morning, after looking at the time on my Pip-Boy, I took a deep breath before grabbing a pair of pants from my bag. The shot to the back of my leg had left a hole in my pants, which led to me having to change them. After changing, I grabbed my armor and put it on, holding the helmet with my right hand. I grabbed my bag and went to find Preston and Heather. When I unlocked the door, I found Dogmeat laying next to the door.

"How you doing, buddy?" I asked as I rubbed his belly. He looked at me with those eyes of his, tongue sticking out of his mouth. After petting him, I smiled, "Come on. Let's go get Preston and Heather."

I walked to the bunkhouse, opening the door quietly so I didn't wake up any settlers. After finding Preston sleeping in one of the bunks near the door and waking him up, I told him to grab his and Heather's bags and go to Drumlin Diner with Dogmeat and order food. When I found Heather, she was sleeping in a bunk near the back, far from the door. I put my helmet into my bag and took the blanket in my bag and covered Heather in it, being careful not to wake her. After making sure the blanket was wrapped around her, I picked her up and started walking to the diner. As I walked out of the rear gate, Alice saw me walking with Heather and smirked.

"You look like you just got married and the bride's asleep," Alice remarked.

"Nope," I muttered. "I'm not dumb enough to wake a woman from her sleep. I'm an idiot at times, but I'm not suicidal."

"So when will you be back? I'll make sure we have plenty of food for you."

"About a week or so, give or take. We'll be exploring a new area of the Commonwealth, so it'll take a while."

"Well stay safe. And don't let any ferals get you."

"I won't. I've got Heather here to help with any wounds," I remarked. "Anyway, I'll see you around."

"Alright, see you later."

After I walked out the gate, Alice closed it behind me, and I walked to the diner. It was a ten-minute walk from Starlight, so it didn't really affect the schedule. When I walked into the diner, I saw Preston sitting in one of the booths near the back, and went and sat opposite to him, setting Heather down beside me.

"Garvey, here's a fair warning. Never wake a woman up from her sleep," I warned him, noticing he was looking at me weirdly since I had carried Heather in.

"Uh, General, why not?" Garvey questioned.

"Simple. They're scary when they don't have enough sleep," I replied, shaking at the thought. It was scary enough when Nora didn't get enough sleep. I don't want to know what Heather's like when she doesn't. "So what did you order?"

"Noodle cups and molerat chunks, sir. I figured you could have the cups since, according to Codsworth, you have a taste for them."

"Well you are right about that," I grinned. "I grew up on those. Parents would come home late some days, so my siblings and I would eat noodles."

"Sometimes I find it hard to believe you're from before the war. Then you talk about stuff like this," Garvey replied.

"Well sometimes I find it hard to believe this is the world we live in," I responded, thinking back to high school when I thought the world was perfect and nothing could go wrong. How wrong I was. "Hey, Garvey. What are we going to do once our operation gets bigger?"

"Pardon?"

"Right now the Minutemen are still a small operation. Small enough where I can go help every settlement. What are we going to do once we get bigger? Will I still be the one going to help every settlement? Or will we have people that actually go help others?" I questioned. It was something that had been bothering me for a while. He had told me about how a group had gone to Quincy to help others, but not how big it was. Just the number of settlers and Minutemen in all. Garvey had a look of thought on his face, his eyes staring off, not really focused before he responded.

"I suppose it's up to you to decide how to structure the Minutemen now," Garvey replied. "As the General, you've got to be able to exercise control over how you command the Minutemen. I never got high enough to know how it worked."

"In that case, you'll be my Lieutenant once we get big enough," I said as I reached across the table and patted his shoulder. "At that point, you'll be the one that's been with me the longest, so you'll be the second-highest rank."

"I don't know what to say, General," Garvey replied.

"Think nothing of it. And can you drop the General title? We're friends, no need to be so formal. Now, I've noticed you've had something to talk about for a while. What do you want to share before Heather wakes up?" I questioned with a grin.

Garvey took a deep breath, then sighed before saying "When we first met, I admit, I had my doubts about you. But you've done nothing but impress me. You're just who the Minutemen needed to bring us back from the brink."

"Thanks. That means a lot coming from you, Preston."

"When I was a kid, the Minutemen were my heroes. They were the only good guys around, really. When I turned seventeen, I joined up with Ezra Hollis' company. He was one of the good ones. Really believed in the old-time Minutemen way." Garvey took a deep breath before continuing. "We had a few good years there. I felt like I was part of something bigger than me. Like I was really helping make the Commonwealth a better place."

"Based on what you're saying, it sounds like you were really making a difference."

"I think we were. I know we were. But obviously... it didn't last. I'm sure there was a lot I didn't see, or know enough to pay attention to. You know, the politics and rivalries and bad blood between the different groups. I guess General Becker was able to keep a lid on it. Keep everyone more or less on the same team. But after he was killed, it all came out in the open." Makes sense. Good people in power can generally keep people's rivalries and suppressed to a point. "I couldn't believe it at first. These guys were supposed to be the Minutemen. They were supposed to put their duty to the people ahead of everything else. You probably think I was pretty naive, huh? I guess I was. Still am, too, even after everything. I still believe the Minutemen can be what I always thought they were. The good guys."

I looked at him, wondering how he had a black and white view of this world. "There aren't any good guys, Preston. There are people on your side, and people who aren't," I told him.

"I judge people by their actions. And you are one of the good guys, like it or not. Anyway, I appreciate you taking the time to listen."

"We don't have to hug now, do we?"

"Nah, I'm not really a hugger. We'd probably better get back to it."

We started to eat when we finished talking, with Heather waking up about fifteen minutes later. After putting the blanket Heather had been wrapped in back in my bag, we grabbed our things and left the diner, heading towards Graygarden. After walking for three hours, we came upon a junkyard. It was one I recognized, Jalbert's Brothers Disposal. It was where the trash the people in Sanctuary threw out went. There were a few molerats here and some corpses, a little bit of ammo. There wasn't anything here. Or that's what I thought until I looked in the shed and found a mini-nuke! Sweet! I walked back out to the road and continued walking down it until Heather told me my Pip-Boy was picking up a military frequency, which was odd since the nearest military base was miles away right of us, in the west. I tuned in to the frequency, AF95, and listened.

"Automated message repeating... This is Scribe Haylen of Reconnaissance Squad Gladius to any unit in transmission range. Authorization Arx. Ferrum. Nine. Five. Our unit has sustained casualties and we're running low on supplies. We're requesting support or evac from our position at Cambridge Police Station. Automated message repeating…"

What's the Hades? Cambridge Police Station? Last I checked they didn't have any distress signals or anything like that before the bombs fell. I turned the transmission off and started to think.

"What's going on Mason?" Heather questioned.

"Huh?"

"You're tapping your fingers together. You normally do that when your thinking. What are you thinking about?"

"It's the radio frequency. " I replied before turning to Garvey. "Listen, we're going to see what the people at Graygarden need, then heading to Cambridge to see what the frequency coming from the police station is about. There may be people there, there may not. But we're going there just in case."

"Of course Mason," Preston replied. Him saying my name like that, it felt nice. Like we were making some progress.

"Alright. Graygarden is just ahead. Let's go see what they need the get going." After that, we walked to the place, and we were surprised to see nothing but Mr. Handies and a Miss Nanny. I approached one that looked better than the others, the Miss Nanny that was white instead of the normal silver.

"Welcome to Graygarden, darling! This is the Commonwealth's first and only hydroponics facility run entirely by robots," the Miss Nanny greeted.

"This place seems familiar. I think I saw a bit about it on the news, back before the war," I answered her, remembering hearing about this with Nora.

"It is hard to imagine how this has survived for so long," Preston broke in.

"Yes, construction was completed mere days before the war. We were able to survive and continue our observations only because our creators made us truly self-sufficient. You see, there are two types of workers here. The worker drones carry out labor and maintenance. We supervisors-that is myself, Greene, and Brown-possess sophisticated cognition processors. We are capable of complex analysis and decision making, a testament to the genius of our creator, Doctor Edward Gray," the Miss Nanny explained.

"I remember him. He was one of RobCo's senior engineers, but more than a little eccentric," I noted.

"That's the second time you've said that you remember something before the war. I think you're a little confused, darling. You simply can't have been alive back then." False, I was. "Robotics and artificial intelligence were our creator's great passions, rivaled only by his love of television. You'll notice I possess a rather singular personality, as do the other supervisors."

"This took a weird turn," Preston replied.

"Why did Dr. Gray give you these unusual personalities?"

"Genius is restless, darling. It abhors stagnation. Doctor Gray was tired of the standard Mister Handy personality. He looked to his favorite television characters for inspiration, and we are the result." She then paused before continuing. "A few other things you should know… talk to Greene if you need supplies. If it's caps you require, Brown might have a few odd jobs. Ah, there's another thing. A question really. Tell me darling, what do you think of the water around here?"

I wouldn't drink it until purified but that wasn't the point. "I'm with the Minutemen. Did you need help with something?"

"Why… yes. That's what I was getting at, dear. The water-it's simply ghastly! Pressure is down. Radiation is up. Why, it's practically toxic. Just think what it must be doing to my skin!" Nothing. You're a machine that doesn't have skin. "This will never do. If you Minutemen lend us a hand, I'll be eternally grateful."

"I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise anything."

"Most of our water comes from the old Weston plant, south of here. Such an eyesore. Be a dear and pay a visit, hmm? See what you can do? Maybe tidy up the place? It must be filthy. If you can get it working again, I'm sure I can… come up with something for you."

When we finished talking, I turned to Preston and Heather.

"You guys ready?

"Of course, General." He probably being formal because we're in front of these robots.

"Ready."

I then pet Dogmeat on his head and said, "Are you ready, boy?"

He painted in response, before picking my face.

"I'll take that as a yes. Let's go."

We started walking to the police station, and when we got to the outskirts Cambridge, a mine almost killed Dogmeat. I almost lost my leg in the process, but I could live with that. I pulled my helmet out of my bag and put it on before continuing. When we walked into the city, we heard gunfire, and two more mines almost blew us up, but I disarmed them before they went off. We ran into ferals, eliminating them before we got to the police station, where three people were fighting ferals, one of them in a suit of power armor! I wasn't aware that people knew how to operate these still, but that didn't matter right now. I climbed onto the trailer of a truck in front of the station and began firing at ferals.

"Come on you ugly pieces of crap! Show us what you've got!" Every time I shot one, I blew its head off. I had taken out nearly half the ferals when I ran out of ammo. I grinned as I pulled out my knife and said, "I guess it's time for some fun. Heather, Preston, you two stay up here. I'm going down to join the fight." Before they could protest, I jumped off the trailer, rolling on the ground to avoid breaking my legs. A feral ran at me, and before it hit me, I stabbed the side of his head, before pulling it out and cut the head of another one charging.

"Come on! Is the best you can do?" I yelled as more starts to stampede towards me, away from the people at the door of the station.

"Hey lady!" I yelled ards the woman that was with them. "Heal your friend there while I kill these jerk bags!"

The lady looked at me with an odd look on her face, and I just smiled. Before any of them hit me, I rolled back and got into a stance. Right as they were about to get on top of me, I stomped one foot in front of the other, then used the other to kick one in the chest, sending it flying and knocking into the ones behind it. I quickly grabbed the one nuka-grenade I had, kissed it, then tossed it into the pile of ferals. I ducked behind the walls as it exploded, and heard satisfying grunts coming from them. Well, painful grunts for them, satisfying for me. I begin walking to the compound, where I run into the soldiers who have their guns put away, along with Heather, Garvey, and Dogmeat, when a feral tackles me from behind, nearly breaking one of my legs, and begins hitting my helmet. Good thing I'm wearing it. Before any of them can react, I flip it off my back and grab it by its head. It begins hitting my arms, but the armor covering it keeps it from actually causing any harm. I keep holding, the pressure of my grip increasing until I hear it grunt before it stops struggling. I drop it to the ground before walking up to the soldiers.

The man in the power armor, who I'm going to call robot man from now on, comes up to me and says, "We appreciate the assistance, civilian. But what's your business here?"

Cautious, not bad. Should be in this world. "Pest exterminator. I heard you had a feral problem."

The robot man didn't seem to like that and frowns. "Evading my questions is a surefire way of getting yourself ejected from the compound. Are you from a local settlement?"

Pre-war or post-war? Pre-war, definitely not. I grew up in the south, where my brother and sister had lived. Post-war, yes, so I was going to go with that one since it was probably less suspicious. "I'm from Sanctuary Hills… on the other side of Concord."

"I've seen the location on our maps, but I've never visited the area myself. There isn't much over there for us to collect." Much of what, food? If so, there is definitely no short supply of that now. "If I appear suspicious, it's because our mission here has been difficult. Since the moment we arrived in the Commonwealth, we've been constantly under fire." More like constantly fighting g a riot of ferals. "If you want to continue pitching in, we could use an extra gun on our side.

I just know what I'm about to say will sound hypocritical. "I want to help, but I don't like the secrecy. Who are you? Really?" Yep. Knew I would sound like a hypocrite. I'm not even telling him where I'm actually from.

"Seems more than reasonable, if you really want our help," Garvey added, and I shot a friendly grin at him.

"Very well. I'm Paladin Danse, Brotherhood of Steel." So the initials were… BS? "Over there is Scribe Haylen and Knight Rhys," Danse said gesturing to the woman first, then the man. "We're on recon duty, but I'm down a man and our supplies are running low. I've been trying to send a signal to my superiors, but the signals too weak to reach them."

That much was true. I barely picked up the signal by Graygarden.

"Sir, if I may," Haylen inquired.

"Proceed, Haylen."

"I've modified the radio tower on the roof of the police station, but I'm afraid it isn't enough. We need something that will boost the signal."

Well, I know of one thing that could help them…

"Our target is ArcJet Systems, and it contains the technology we need… the Deep Range Transmitter." That's the thing. "We infiltrate the facility, secure the transmitter, and bring it back here. So what do you say? You willing to lend the Brotherhood of Steel a hand?"

"It's a good plan, if we make it back," I replied, not wanting to think about the shape that place must be in after two hundred years.

"I can assure you that I wouldn't undertake this mission unless I had absolute faith in your abilities." Danse then turned to Haylen. "Haylen, take Rhys inside and bind his wounds. Rhys, once you're on your feet, I want you to make certain that the perimeter is secure."

"I'm on it."

Danse then turned back to me. "All right, civilian… it's time to prove your worth. Head into the police station and resupply yourself, then let me know when you're ready to begin. Let's move out people!"

Before he could go into the police station, I grabbed his shoulder. He looked surprised I stopped him before I said, "It's going to be a while. I made a prior obligation before this and came to see if you guys were in trouble."

"What's the obligation soldier?"

"I promised to help a settlement with their water problem," I answered, not sure how he would react to a settlement for run by Mr. Handies and a Miss Nanny.

"Alright soldier. Come back once you've fulfilled this obligation."

"Well do you mind if my companions and I rest up here for the night," I asked him. "It's getting dark out, and I really don't want to clear out a raider camp right now."

"Alright then," Danse replied. "Rest up here tonight, then head on your way."

We proceeded to head into the station, but not after collecting what loot we could off the bodies of ferals. I walk in and sit at one of the tables while Heather comes over and starts to patch up one of my legs. I notice she has something to talk about and turned her head to look at me.

"Hey, what's on your mind."

"Feel like I'm robbing you every time you buy something from me. So, I'm giving you the biggest discount I can afford." She finished looking over my leg and sat in the chair across from me. "Do you ever wonder if we should spice things up between us?"

"You mean trying to be more than friends?" I asked, looking at her confused. What's brought this on?

"Yes! I'm not looking for anything big. Just something a little more physical. You game?"

I weighed my options here. I could A) say yes and sleep with her, or B) say no and make things awkward between us. I rather enjoyed having Heather around, and I really didn't want things to be awkward.

"Alright," I replied as I rubbed the back of my neck. "I mean, I'm fine with that if you are."

"Right behind you!"

I walked over to one of the sleeping bags and laid in it after taking off my armor, Heather laying next to me after. This was going to be a long night.

When I woke up that morning, it was four, and the sun was still rising. I tried to sit up but found that Heather had started using my arm as a pillow sometime after I had fallen asleep. I carefully pulled my arm out from under her and rested her head on the rolled blanket in my bag. I stretched before grabbing a shirt from my bag and changing the one I was wearing. It had some tears from the ferals yesterday managing to scratch through the gaps in my armor, but nothing a needle and thread couldn't fix. After putting away the torn shirt and putting the other on, I started searching the station for anything useful. All I found was duct tape and wonder glue for crafting, and some clothing in the lockers. There were two pairs of patrolman sunglasses, one of which I handed to Preston, who was up before me. That was odd, I was usually the first to wake. After stretching my arms and making sure my pistol and combat rifle were loaded, as well as the secondary and tertiary magazines for them if I ran out in the middle of a battle, I stored the magazines somewhere I could easily grab them if I could. When I was sure they were secure, I grabbed my armor and began to put it on, leaving my helmet on the table. After grabbing some cans that were in the station, I grabbed Garvey and my pistol and had him come outside.

"So what are we doing, General?" Garvey questioned.

"You will be throwing these cans and I will be shooting them," I replied. "The cans will be representing grenades, Molotov's, any explosive besides a mini-nuke." I then took a piece of chalk that was on one of the ferals bodies and drew a large circle on the ground. "I'm going to stand in the center of this, and you're going to stand outside of it and try to hit me with the cans. The cans land in the circle, I would be dead, but if they land outside, I will survive."

"And why are we doing this?"

"I'm bored and waiting for Heather to wake up. There aren't any stops I know of between here and the water plant, so I'm not carrying her today. Now start throwing those cans. Make sure to throw them to the right or left so I don't hit you with a bullet."

Holding my pistol with both hands, as soon as Preston started throwing the cans, I started firing at them, hitting each one when I shot. When I saw how many landed in the circle, I let out a deep breath.

"So out of twelve cans, three landed in the circle," I muttered. "Dang, so twenty-five percent of the time I've still got to duck for cover." I thought about that for a minute before saying, "Oh well."

I turned around, and before I can walk back into the building, I see Rhys standing in front of me. "Hello."

"Think you're some kind of hot-shot?" Rhys fumed, clearly irritated by something.

"What's got your panties in a twist?"

Rhys looked startled, before recomposing himself. "You're hired help, and that's all there is to it."

What the Hades was this guy's problem? First impressions go a long way, and I could already tell I wasn't going to like him. "Hired help or not, I got the job done while you were sitting on your cul the entire time. The same thing happened to me a few days ago when we were traveling, but instead of sitting around and waiting for them to kill everything, I got a stimpak, used it, and got back into the fight. Where's your excuse?"

"Got some backbone? Good. You'll need it if you want to keep hanging with us. Now, why don't you run off and see if Top needs you to do anything else," Rhys finished before going back into the police station.

"Hey, Preston," I grinned as I turned to him. "Does he strike you as the type of guy that would be a good fit for the Minutemen?"

"No, General. He strikes me as the type who only cares about this Brotherhood."

"Making sure it wasn't just me. He's too much of an l'âne."

"A what?"

"Sorry, Preston. I don't particularly enjoy cursing in English, but for you, I'll make an exception. What I called him was a jackass. Now let's go see if Heather is awake yet."

After loading my pistol, we walked into the station and found Heather talking to Haylen, deep in their conversation. I smiled and walked around the station, making sure not to miss anything. I managed to find a black hood like what Danse was wearing, so that was a bonus since I didn't particularly like bright colors. Too, well, bright and flashy. After finding some binoculars and putting them away, I sat down at the table and drank half a bottle of water, before pouring the rest into a bowl for Dogmeat as he sat beside me. Luckily he had been in the station when we were doing that little exercise outside, otherwise, he could've been hit with one of those shots.

I was polishing my rifle with a bandanna when Heather came up to me.

"Did you rest well?" I grinned, not looking away from my gun.

"Best sleep ever. We cuddled the whole time."

"Technically until I woke up," I replied before looking up at her. "Still, it was nice. So, ready to get this show on the road?"

"Ready."

"Well alright. Preston, come on! We're heading out!" I then put my gun away and stood up, and put my helmet on. After putting my bag on and waiting for the others to get up front, we began walking to the water plant. It took about three hours, but we got to an old railway check station and found two people had turned it into a tato farm. Not as large as the Abernathy's, but decent enough. I walked up to the older of the two, and she spoke before I could say anything.

"Hey there, friend," she said, even though I know for a fact that we don't know each other. "We're in trouble. Maybe you can help."

Ah, I see. They need help. Well helping people is always good. "It'll be a day or so, but I'll be glad to help if I can."

"It's these damned greenskins-the super mutants! Whenever they come through, we have to run away or hide. They take away everything they can eat and destroy most everything else. And if they ever took us by surprise… We'd both be dead. We can't live like this. Please, you've got to help us."

"I'll see what I can do."

"Oh, thanks! We're kind of at the end of our rope here."

She told me where they were, a fraternal post not far from the police station, and I marked it for later. I headed down to the Charles River, and after telling Garvey and Heather to take Dogmeat and walk the long way around, I hung my binoculars around my neck and gave Garvey my bag, and swam across the river. It took me about thirty minutes, having to stop every once in a while and just float for a minute before I got to the other side.

After crawling out of the river and finding a hill nearby, I used the binoculars to see if there were any baddies outside the plant. There were five green men and a mutated dog and figured I'd wait for Heather and Garvey before fighting them.

One of the men and the dog were by the entrance near the front of the plant, another was in a building raised off the ground by a walkway, a third had a missile launcher and was patrolling the walkways, a fourth was just walking around carrying a mini-nuke in his arms, a fifth was on the other side by the elevator entrance to the place, and the sixth was far from the entrance patrolling the large sidewalk in front. After waiting half an hour, and moving every once in a while to avoid the men seeing me, Heather, Garvey, and Dogmeat finally got here.

"Good, you're here," I smiled as they came up. "We've got six green enemies."

"Green enemies? You mean Super Mutants?" Garvey questioned.

"If Super Mutants are what you call big green men, then five Super Mutants and a Mutant Hound. I would have to say one is a Suicider since he holds a mini-nuke in one arm, and the one with a missile launcher is a Skirmisher."

"So this will be a bit difficult," Garvey said as he gave me my bag.

"Nonsense. As long as we get rid of the missile launcher, we'll be good to go!" I grinned.

"You should be aware that while they are dumb, they're also physically stronger than humans," Heather told me.

"So? I actually know how to fight instead of throwing my fist in any direction. Now let's talk about tactics."

"Okay," they said in agreement.

"Now Preston, I need you to stay on this hill and shoot them from afar. Heather, I need you to be between the hill and the fence, with Preston covering you. Meanwhile, I'll be getting up close and personal with them."

"Mason, I'm sorry, but what are you going to do about the Suicider?" Garvey questioned.

In response, I pulled out my rifle and turned around, and aimed for the mini-nuke the ugliest one was holding, held my breath as I lined up my shot, and pulled the trigger, the bullet flying for a minute before hitting the nuke, blowing the mutie up. When I saw Garvey staring at me with his mouth agape, I answered, "What Suicider?"

Before we could do anything, an explosion went off behind me, and when I turned, saw the Skirmisher had fired but missed.

"Okay!" I beamed. "Let's get to work!"

I ran and ducked under a missile as it went overhead, dodged a third as it almost hit my torso, and got behind a structure a missile couldn't destroy. The first Super Mutant ran up and tried to swing the board down, but I used both hands to stop it and sent a knee to the groin. It went down holding what I left, and another tried to attack from behind, but sidestepped the board and sent a back kick to the stomach.

"That can't be the best you petite merde have?" I questioned as the third hit me in the side with the board. Thing is it didn't even hurt. Weren't these supposed to be physically stronger than humans? I knocked the board to the side before putting my arms up in a defensive stance and smirked.

"Come on, put 'em up," I taunted. It sent a punch at me, which I turned my body to avoid while I threw a jab to its face, before following it up with a right cross. It reeled back, clutching its fugly face.

"I didn't even put my full weight behind that," I scoffed. I know I sound arrogant right now, but seriously, these things were supposed to be stronger than us according to Heather, and they were weakened by a few basic fighting moves.

"Stupid human!" the second one yelled as it got off the ground while I pulled my knife out.

"I may be stupid, but smart enough to kick your butt," I replied. I ducked under another punch and sliced across its stomach before stabbing it in the nape of the neck and used both hands to drag it down its spine, leaving it to fall to the ground. Now that was a bit unfair. I had a knife and it was weaponless.

The first one had finally gotten up and punched me in the chest, catching me by surprise. While it didn't hurt, it shocked me nonetheless. It had been a while since anything had actually hit me with its fists. Wait, never mind, I realized it had cracked a few ribs. Didn't need a stimpak though since nothing was broken and I could still see clearly.

"Okay big guy," I said as I got back in a defensive stance, holding my knife in my hand. "Let's go."

It tried to hit me again, and I dodged before sending a jab into its face and then kicked its stomach, making it kneel down before thrusting my knife into its skull.

"Do any of your kind know how to fight?" I questioned. When I looked to Heather and Garvey, I could tell they were still fighting the Skirmisher as they were shooting well above me, the Mutant Hound a pile of ash now as the third Super Mutant came barreling to hit me from the front. I rolled to the side as it ran into the structure behind me, and it clutched its face as it turned around. It tried to punch me again, but I ducked under it and kicked it as hard as I could in between its legs

"It wasn't your day, was it connard?" I said as I stabbed the back of its head. I looked to Heather and Garvey and saw they weren't firing their weapons and knew they had finished off the Skirmisher.

When Heather and Garvey came up, I smiled, "Excellent! One step closer to fixing this place! Let's check the place for traps and loot before heading in."

"Of course, Mason," Garvey replied.

"On it."

While we're searching the area, Dogmeat almost got killed by a tripwire activating a missile launcher, but I yanked him back before it could, the explosion burning my pant leg. Fortunately, we were standing in water, so the minute I dropped, the fire was put out. We met up again at the entrance where Garvey and Heather both had some junk, which I put in my bag, and we headed in.

"We should write an issue of the Wasteland Survival Guide.," Heather commented as we walked in. "We can call it 'Swimming with Super Mutants.'"

We took the elevator down, which was surprising it was still working, and got to the first level of the water treatment area. There was a turret in the corner of the roof on the ceiling, and I had to quickly get behind a wall to avoid being hit by it. When it stopped firing, I pulled out my rifle and fired two shots to the barrel, blowing the thing up. When I looked out to the treatment area, I understood why the plumbing was bad. The place was flooded to the floor we were on, and knowing the way these places were, there were four switches I had to flip, the first of which should be nearby.

"Let's see, the first switch should be right here," I said as I searched the panel for the switch and found it. The water began draining, and I saw a couple of those giant crabs on the boardwalk and saw one that looked tougher than the other two. Luckily I still had a couple mines and saw it was by a door that had to be opened from the other side. I walked through the hall leading to a side room slowly and ducked undercover when a turret started firing. Heather shot it twice while it was firing and caused it to blow up.

"You're amazing," I smiled at her while she turned away before I noticed something on the countertop by a computer connected to the blown-up turret.

"Picket Fences," I smiled. "I'll have to take a look at this next chance I get," Gotta remember to find some glasses so I don't have to pull the magazine close to my face. Sure, I could've used one of the pairs I had found, but I had to make sure they were the right prescription for me. It's not like my eyesight was terrible, the glasses were actually more for reading than anything else. After searching the rest of the area and finding some duct tape and wonder glue, we continued through the hallway until we got to the door.

"I need you guys to step back," I told them. "Don't want you getting hurt by the explosion."

"What explosion, Mason," Garvey asked. I pulled out some mines and activated them for the crab when it stepped on it.

"An ugly crab is going to get hurt by these," I said as I opened the door. I then ran like Hades to Heather and Garvey as a crab tried to get me. When the door opened and a crab came through, the tougher looking one came first and activated the mines, causing them to blow up. When I looked at the damage done to it, it was glowing red, and the legs were broken.

"Gotcha, female dog," I grinned as I pulled out my rifle. Two more crabs came out from behind it, and we began firing at them, with me aiming at their legs so they couldn't run or walk, just limp. After five minutes, we managed to kill them, with the tough one being killed last.

"Why does this have a piece of raider armor," I questioned as I handed it to Heather.

"It protects more against Super Mutants," she replied.

"Makes sense. If a raider got through here, then a crab would have armor like that on them."

"You mean Mirelurk?" Garvey asked.

"Is that what you call these? I just call them giant crabs, but I'll be sure to call them that from now on."

We cleared the rest of the place, the only thing giving us any trouble being five turrets, two in one room, one right outside said room, and the final two being mounted on the wall. We ended up killing more Mirelurks and their hatchlings, but once taking out their legs, it wasn't too hard to kill them. We got a lot of meat off them and another combat rifle from a steamer trunk, and I had to drop some junk to carry the stuff without getting slowed down and used the elevator to get to the surface. We started walking back to Graygarden, killing two radstags on the way and collecting the meat. After walking for about two hours, I took off my helmet as we finally got back to the place.

"Darling! So good to see you," White greeted as I approached her. "You fixed our water problem, didn't you?"

"Yeah. It wasn't easy."

"Here. You can have some of our produce," she replied as she gave me a melon, three mutfruit, and three gourds. Guess that's all we were getting along with their support. "I'll ask Greenie to give you a discount, too, if there's anything else you need. Now I simply must get back to work. Ta-ta."

After she went back to work, I found one of the normal Mr. Handy's and reprogrammed it to be a provisioner between here and Starlight. After writing a note to Alice to send some supplies, I found enough materials lying around to make a small shack and three beds.

"Let's collect the crop for them before heading back to Cambridge."

We started collecting crops, and while we were, I thought to myself, 'I could see myself doing this one day.'


	9. Chapter 8: Call to Arms

After collecting the crops and storing them away in the workbench, Heather, Garvey, Dogmeat and I started to head to Cambridge. While we were walking into the area, I knew the fraternal post was nearby, so I took a little detour to clear out the Super Mutants there. When we got to the place, I put my helmet back on and had the others sneak in the back with me. Something about the place seemed familiar, but I couldn't think why. I almost picked the lock to the door that's right in front of the one I opened, but then I hear heavy breathing on the other side. I signaled for them to remain silent and wait here while I walked up the stairs nearby.

After walking up I come to the balcony and look down into the area below, where a blind Super Mutant is. I can tell it's blind from the cloth covering its eyes, and it not moving from where it was sitting. Without hesitating, I pull out my rifle and aim for the head, shooting it and blowing it off. I stay quiet for a few seconds to be sure there weren't any other uglies nearby. Now I could take them on in a fight, but only when I knew how many there were and what weapons they had. I wasn't going to go into a fistfight with these things unprepared. I walk back down the stairs and turn to the others.

"I think I may have gotten their leader, but we've still got the rest to get. I highly doubt these things work together like snakes," I inform them.

"Snakes?" Garvey questioned.

"Take off the head, the rest of the body dies."

"In that case, no, they're not."

"Well alright then. Let's get busy."

While we searched the area, I realized why the place was familiar.

"Is everything alright, Mason?" Garvey asked as I stood behind a microphone.

"Preston," I said as a frown came across my face for the first time in a while, which caused Dogmeat to whine due to being able to read my emotions I guess. Preston and Heather heard him and knew it was due to me since he never whined unless he had been hurt. "Always remember: War, War never changes."

"Are you okay?" Heather asked.

"Yeah. It's just, the day the bombs fell, I was supposed to give a speech here." I sit down on the couch while I put my head in my hands. Heather sat beside me as Garvey stood in front, and Dogmeat set his head on my lap. I took my helmet off and set it to the side while I stared at everyone.

"Is everything going to be alright, Mason?" Garvey asked. "Casdin and I can finish the job if you're not up for it."

"I'll be fine. Just give me a few minutes," I replied. "Just check this area for any loot for now.

"Alright then."

I turned to Heather and smiled. "I'll be fine Heather. Just give me a few."

After Heather made sure I would be fine, she went to help Garvey to search the area, and I just sat there with Dogmeat looking at me with puppy dog eyes. I smiled a little as I patted the side of his head.

"I'll be ok, bud," I told him. I suppose up until now, and when I heard Nora's recording, I thought of this as one big nightmare. Still hard to believe me this was the world we live in now. "Well, I've got to stop feeling sorry for myself. Let's get back to work."

After putting on my helmet, I found a switch to the siren in this place and had an extremely stupid idea.

"Preston, Heather, come over here," I smirked as they came to me.

"Do you need anything, Mason?" Garvey asked.

"No, I just have a stupid idea. You're going to want to get in cover though," I replied.

They looked at me confused but didn't question it and found cover behind some pillars. I the. Hit the switch, which caused the alarm to start blaring.

"Stupid human!" a Super Mutant yelled, and when I looked up to the balcony, I saw a Super Mutant with a combat rifle. Must be a Skirmisher.

"Says the pea-brain!" I yelled, before running through the door and up the stairs to get to the second floor. I pulled out my pistol and ran into a Super Mutant when I got to the top. Before it could react, I grabbed its shoulder and pulled it down, before sticking my pistol in its face and pulling the trigger. The body fell to the ground as I ran by and got to the Skirmisher, who tried to shoot me multiple times but failed to do so since I moved side to side to avoid the shots. When it was reloading, I ran up to it and kicked its legs out from under it before shooting it in the head. I picked up a lever-action rifle off the body and noticed it was noticeably weak for a rifle. I still put it away in my bag for the time being and went to help Garvey and Heather.

"You guys alright?" I yelled as I jumped over the balcony and onto a Super Mutant that was right beneath it. It tried to pull me off, but I shot it in the head before it could. "Why do they always resist?" I thought out loud.

Another one coming through the doorway in front of the stage tried to hit Heather, but I fired a round into his head before the board connected.

"Is that all of them?" I yelled over my shoulder to Garvey, who nodded his head in response.

"You know, you're a mystery, Mason," Garvey said. "How are you good at fighting and shooting?"

That would confuse some people. Most were only good at one and not the other.

"Couldn't carry a gun in school, so I picked up fighting to defend myself. As for the shooting, I learned both in the army and field practice. Now come on. Let's see what loot this place has."

We searched the building, and I found seven teddy bears! I must save them all! At least that's what I think every time I see one. They're too adorable to leave behind! After finishing, we left and started walking to the police station.

When I walked up to the place, I took a few minutes to get rid of the ghoul bodies Rhys was too lazy to move. After moving the bodies, which only took about ten minutes, I went into the station and found Danse.

"You ready to move out?" Danse asked.

"Before we go, why establish an outpost at the police station?"

"Given the nature of the facility, we felt it would be tactically advantageous to search it for weapons and ammunition. The radio tower on the roof was an unexpected boon, but it obviously has its shortcomings that need to be rectified. It might not be as imposing as the Citadel back in the Capital Wasteland, but it suits our purposes. That's all I'm willing to divulge at this point. Are you ready to proceed with the mission?"

"Ready."

"Outstanding. Follow my lead and try not to lag behind.

When we got out the front door, I checked the time to see what time we would possibly be done with this job and realized we'd be done before the day was out since it was only three forty-seven and the facility was about a two-hour walk from here.

"We'll take this alley," Danse informed me. "Follow me."

When we exited the alley and got to the main road by the river, Danse began explaining what we were doing.

"ArcJet is a short hike to the west." I know. I just came from that direction. "If we take this road, we should be able to avoid the larger pack of ferals infesting Cambridge." I'd be surprised if we ran into any. There wasn't a single one on the way here, there shouldn't be on the way there. "Traveling this far from the police station is a risk, but getting that transmitter up and running is needs to be our top priority. If it was up to me, I'd relocate my team, but Scribe Haylen detected some disturbing energy readings in the area that needs to be investigated." Technically they don't. "We don't know much about them, except that they're short-lived and broadcast on a frequency only attainable with a high level of technology. We're concerned that whoever or whatever is creating those energy readings might be a potential threat, so it's our job to investigate."

By the time he finished talking, we were coming up across a bridge across the river, and when I looked at what was ahead, saw three raiders kill two people and a two-headed cow. They see us coming and start shooting. One went for me, and the other two went for Danse, Heather, Garvey, and Dogmeat. That's a dumb decision. The one I decided to go for hit my arm and the bullet managed to find a gap in the armor. Luckily she was still a bad shot, so it just grazed my arm, but that didn't stop it from hurting like Hades. She fired again, and this time I slid under the gunfire and kicked the lady's legs out from under her, and when she raised her head to try to get back up, I stomped on her head. It hadn't killed her, so I stomped again. When that didn't kill her, I stomped one more time before her body went limp.

"Search the body for any ammunition, and collect their metal and raider armor for scrap."

Danse looked confused while Heather and Garvey searched the two they killed with Danse and Dogmeat, and I searched the lady I killed. She had on road leathers, which I took and left a black tank top on her.

"We can continue now Danse," I informed him when we were done packing our bags.

"Let's get moving, soldier," Danse replied.

I checked the time on my Pip-Boy and saw that we were making progress since we were halfway there and it was only four sixteen. We started walking up the road to ArcJet and ran into four mongrels and two bloatflies. Needless to say, they weren't much of a challenge this time around since I pulled my pistol and fired a round into each of their heads. I missed a bloatfly and mongrel, but Heather and Danse got them.

"I have to admit, I'm very impressed. You're quite a soldier," Danse said as we walked past the corpses.

We walked in silence for the rest of the way, with me dancing to some music coming from my Pip-Boy. Danse was rather dull. I was going to have to travel with him one day.

"I could really go for some… you thought I was going to say Noodles, didn't you?" It sounded like it, but you're not craving it now. "I'm not in a noodle mood right now."

"There it is…" Danse announced as we approached the facility. "ArcJet Systems. There shouldn't be any exterior security, so we'll head in through the front."

"This place just screams, 'Great loot in here!', right? Bet it's full of gunners," Heather commented. When I looked up at the place, I did get a feeling something dangerous was here, but it wasn't something human. I didn't know what it was, just that it wasn't good.

When we got to the front door of the place, Danse waited for me to talk to him.

"Listen up. We do this clean and quiet. No heroics and by the book. Understand?"

I looked at him, surprised by what he said. Wasn't he the one who was holed up at the police station not too long ago. "This isn't my first rodeo."

"I understand that. I'm simply offering valuable tactical advice. You'd do well to listen." Offering? More like commanding. "Remember, our target is the Deep Range Transmitter. Stay focused and check your fire. I don't want to be hit by stray bullets."

We walked in, and Danse said started talking about how it was corporations like this one that led to the bombs, but I didn't care. He tried to tell me what to do even though by all means, he was weaker than I was. I wonder, does he ever get out of that armor?

We came upon a room with scattered protectrons and Danse stopped.

"Looks like we missed the party," I commented.

"You're making a foolish assessment," Danse replied, which caused me to bite my tongue. "Look at the evidence. There isn't a single spent ammunition case or drop of blood in sight. These robots were assaulted by Institute synths."

Well, these protectrons use lasers to kill people, which burn wounds shut, so of course, there won't be blood. As for the ammo, if people used laser rifles, it would make sense. "What's the Institute?" I hadn't gotten a straight answer from Heather, more of a vague idea.

"They're a group of scientists who went underground when the Great War started. Spent the past few decades littering the Commonwealth with their technological nightmares."

Well, that was a pretty decent answer. "Synth? Isn't that the same as robot?"

"They're an abuse of technology created by the Institute. Abominations meant to 'improve' upon humanity. It's unacceptable. They simply can't be allowed to exist."

It sounds like he fears them. I mean, we do try to destroy things we're afraid of. "It sounds like you're scared of synths."

"There's a measurable difference between being frightened and being prepared."

What makes synths abominations?

"Synths? I'm on it," Heather commented as we left the room. That's right, she has a personal grudge with synths.

"Well, this will be my first look at them," I muttered.

"What was that, General?" Preston asked.

"Just that this will be my first time seeing synths. I haven't seen one yet."

"Well you been exploring one area for a while, it's more dangerous down here."

"I can tell. We ran into those mirelurks at the plant and I only saw one of those on the return trip a few days ago."

We walked in silence for a minute until we came to a dead end with a locked door.

"See if you can find a way to get that door open," Danse commanded. "I'm going to reconnoiter the area."

After looking around, I found the computer that should've unlocked the door, but the hacking was beyond what I could do. Mainly because I didn't normally hack computers. I found another terminal nearby that luckily had an auto password change for the other that wasn't locked. That's convenient. I wrote the password on a piece of paper and handed it to Preston.

"When I tell you, unlock that computer terminal," I instructed him.

"Sure thing General."

I walked up to the metal door and put my ear on it, listening for anything. I heard some footprints, and heard something mechanic say "Is someone present?"

I signaled for Garvey to open the door, and when he did, time slowed down for me. Before anyone had time to react I had pulled out my rifle and fired a round into the head of the first machine I saw. Taking breaths between each shot, I fired another few into two more robots, before putting the rifle away and blocking a baton that was inches from my face.

"That's not nice, now is it?" I taunted before burying a fist in its head. These things are highly fragile if they can break from a fist. Another one tried to hit me from behind, but I back kicked it, sending it flying into the wall. Before it could get up, I pulled out my pistol and shot its head off.

"That's five of them. There's bound to be more ahead," I thought out loud, and it seemed everyone agreed with me as they nodded their heads.

"Preston, see what ammunition they have. Keep Dogmeat with you. Danse, Heather, let's keep moving forward."

I pulled my rifle back out after putting my pistol away, and we continued to the next room. When we walked in, almost immediately we came under fire. One synth tried to hit me with a baton, but I dodged and bashed the stock of my rifle into his chest. When it staggered back, before it could recover, I fired a round into its head, before firing another into one standing above the entrance to the room. There was one up the ramp to the next floor, but I fired a round into its legs before it could fire, disconnecting the wires causing it to fall to the ground.

"Aren't these things robots?" I yelled. "They're surprisingly easy to fight! Like shooting fish in a barrel!"

Danse and Heather both looked at me surprised, and I walked up the ramp and shot the synth in the head. There had been one on the other side of the room, but Danse and Heather had taken care of it. After looting the bodies and letting Garvey and Dogmeat catch up, we continued on our way. I found a Tesla Science Magazine in one of the halls, which is awesome! I love magazines! We ran into three turrets, which we let Danse take care of. When we came to the entrance to the engine core, Danse told us it should be our final stop.

When we enter the section, the first thing everyone notices is the darkness.

"Watch your footing…" Danse informed. "Looks like the powers out in this section. We'll have to keep heading down for now and find a way to get the facility's power back online."

I looked over the railing and noticed a door leading somewhere. Probably the generator room. Before anyone could say anything, I grabbed the railing and jumped over it, bending my legs as my feet hit the ground. When I walked to the generator room, I grabbed a fusion core that was powering the lights down here and a Junk Jet that was on a table. After powering up the place, an automated message said, "Thermal Engine fueled, primed, and standing by for command. After walking back out to the main room, I heard Garvey say, "Let's do this."

When I heard his musket go off, I ran out and saw synths jumping down from above, and pulled out my pistol. I would've run back and hit the button to power the engine, but I wasn't too sure if Danse could survive it with power armor, and didn't know if Heather, Garvey, and Dogmeat would've gotten behind the blast doors in time. The whole time we were firing, they managed to hit me ten times, three in my legs, five on my arms, and two to my chest. Luckily I had upgraded the armor before the journey, otherwise, I'd probably be dead.

"Looks like we've secured the core," Danse announced. "Let's head up to the control room."

Once we all got in the elevator, which was a tight squeeze with Danse in his power armor, I pressed the button and we went to the top floor. When we got there, I was the first to get out of the elevator and was the first to the room while they got out. There were five synths in the room, and three had guns while two had batons. The two with batons came for me while the others fired. I rolled back out of the room, the lasers hitting the wall behind where I had been standing. The first one with a baton tried to hit me, but I grabbed it by the wrist and twisted it, forcing it to drop the baton, and sent a right cross. It fell to the ground, the head hanging by the material acting as skin. The other synth tried to attack me, but I ducked and sent my fist through its stomach. Some metal went out its back while my hand was buried in the stomach as it fell, definitely dead. By this point, the others had gotten out of the elevator and were now in the room firing at the synths. After helping take them out, I searched the bodies to find what we came here for.

"Is this what you need?" I yelled to Danse as I held up a machine one of the synths had.

"Affirmative. Let's meet outside the bunker and continue our conversation from there."

We got into the elevator that led out of the place, and when we got out and left the bunker, Danse checked outside for any enemies before speaking.

"The bunker looks clear," Danse reported. "Let's move out."

When we got out into the opening, Danse cleared his throat before turning to me.

"Well, that could've gone smoother, but mission accomplished."

He may have been a soldier, probably has seen more than me, but that still doesn't mean he can criticize me. I took off my helmet and looked him in his eyes.

"Let's get one thing straight. We may have worked together, but I don't need an evaluation."

"Accepting constructive criticism is the best way to improve ourselves both physically and mentally." Not really. Try using that excuse on someone who's always criticized. "However, that doesn't diminish your role in the operation. Without your assistance, it could have been in jeopardy." That's not true. With his power armor, he would've been fine on his own. Especially with the right upgrades. "That being said, I believe we have to matters to discuss. First and foremost, if you'll hand me the Deep Range Transmitter, I'd like to compensate you for your assistance in this operation. I think you'll find this weapon useful. It's my own personal modification of the standard brotherhood rifle."

When he handed me the rifle, I took a look at it before looking back at him. "Don't you need to keep it?"

"Brotherhood soldiers always carry a back-up. This isn't the only weapon at my disposal."

That must be nice. Not having to worry about running out of resources.

"Now… as far as the second matter goes, I wanted to make you a proposal." It depends on what it is. "We had a lot thrown at us back there."

Understatement.

"Our op could have ended in disaster, but you kept your cool and handled it like a soldier."

Because I used to be one.

"There's no doubt in my mind that you've got what it takes. The way I see it you have a choice. You can spend the rest of your life wandering from place to place, trading an extra hand for a meager reward. "

I see nothing wrong with that.

"Or you could join the Brotherhood of Steel and make your mark on the world. So what do you say?"

To be fair, I'm already making a bigger mark on the Commonwealth than you guys. But if the signal reaches your superiors, then it'll be easier to deploy soldiers. But until they got here, there really would be no point right now.

"I don't know right now, Paladin," I answered with an apologetic look. "I'm already doing what I can to help this place. I don't see how joining the Brotherhood right now will be beneficial."

Garvey looked proud at my answer, and I sent a smile to him.

"It's a big decision, so I understand your hesitation. If you decide you want to be one of us, you know where we are. Good luck," Danse responded.

"Don't let the ferals get you," I grinned. We then parted ways as he headed back to Cambridge and we went to head to Oberland Station. As we were walking, after putting my helmet in my bag, I turned to Heather.

"I'm sorry about not joining the Brotherhood," I told her. "There's just no point right now."

"Oh, well," Heather smiled, surpassing me. "It was fun working with Danse. He's a good person from what I remember."

"Seems like it, but from what I saw he takes being a soldier way too seriously."

When we finally got back to Oberland, the sun was setting, so I quickly found the settler I had previously spoken to.

"I took care of those Super Mutants that we're giving you two trouble," I smiled brightly as I approached her.

"Well, that's the best piece of damn news I've heard all day. We'll be glad to support the Minutemen. Glad to know you guys have our backs."

"I need to know your name. As the General, not only is it my job to protect you guys but also to help settlements grow and expand," I told her, to which she nodded.

"It's Katherine Hill. The runt over there is Linda," she replied as she pointed to the other woman here who was tending to the tatos.

"You'll need to have her as the provisioner between here and Graygarden," I told her. "All settlements I've helped are indirectly connected, so if you need my help, whether you need plans for walls or buildings, or even need help fighting, just send the message through her and I'll be bound to get it."

"Thanks for what you've done. And we won't forget what you've done for us.."

"Hey, before she goes, let me take a look at the supplies and materials you guys have. If we don't have the parts for a beacon and small generator here, she'll be able to pass the message along, and you'll get the parts in a few days."

"We have most of the parts for those here," she informed me. "But we're missing circuitry and crystals for a beacon."

"So you know a bit about machines?" I asked her. "Surprising since you run a farm."

"Just the bare minimum. My old man taught me before he passed away a few years ago."

"Well you're in luck," I told her happily. "We just came here from ArcJet, and that place had the parts you need. Now let's get to work on that beacon."

We started to get to work, with Katherine and Linda working on the generator, Heather and I working on the beacon. I had Garvey keep guard with Dogmeat since no walls were put up yet, though we would get there when more settlers came. It took about four hours, three for Heather and I to build the beacon and another hour getting it set up, and we finally got the thing up and running.

"Give it a day or two, and someone new may come," I informed Katherine. "Doesn't work immediately. If you need repairs for anything, send a list of materials needed through Linda and the supplies will come in a week at the least."

"Well, that's good to know."

"Do you mind showing me the borders of this place so I know how large to make the walls?"

"Alrighty then."

Katherine showed me the size of the place, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed by the size. Fortunately, the place could still hold one hundred people at the most, so I was still going to consider that when making the plans. When she finished showing me the borders, I walked into the room of the station with their beds and grabbed the table in the room and brought it down the stairs of the place and sat on the steps while placing the table down and pulling papers and a pen. I turned the light of the Pip-Boy on and took it off and placed it on the table in front of me so I could see what I was doing. I began working on the plans, with Katherine sending me an odd look when she headed to bed for the night, and Heather and Garvey both trying to get me to take a break from making the plans, but I dismissed them and told them both to get some shut-eye for the night. By the time I was finished, the sun was rising and Katherine was tending to the tatos while Linda had left to go to Graygarden. I found a container to stick the plans in and handed it to Katherine after putting them in it.

"These are plans for the walls and a building you guys are going to need to build in the future," I explained. "This for when you've got more settlers and become a bigger target."

"Well that's nice," she replied. "I'll stick these somewhere safe."

"Great. Now if you don't need anything else, I've got to grab my companions. We're heading east today."

"Vault 81 is over that way. Can't miss it since a road leads to it."

"I'll be sure to go there then. Anyway, I'll see you guys in a few."

After finding Garvey and Dogmeat, Heather having gotten up and waiting for me to finish the plans, we started heading east. After about five minutes, I smelt smoke and followed the scent. When I found the scourge of it, I couldn't believe what I saw. An alien spaceship! At least that's what I assumed it was since it wasn't made by a human being. We found a trail of blood and followed it to a nearby cave, and I took out my pistol and slowly walked into the cave. Before walking in, I signaled for Heather and Garvey to wait back a bit before following. I walked into the cave and saw a figure with a green head wearing a silver and red spacesuit of sorts.

"What the heck are you?" I questioned as I approached it. Instead of answering, it stood up and pulled out a pistol of sorts and fired at me. Luckily my reflexes were fast, otherwise, my head would be ash right now. Before it could fire again, I ran up to it, stuck my pistol to where I assumed its brain was and pulled the trigger. Heather and Garvey had come running in with Dogmeat, then Heather said something about aliens and it being too bad it was hostile, but I was still surprised. I searched the thing to see if it had anything and found the gun and ammunition for the gun. That was nice and all, but I wasn't going to use the gun anytime soon.

"You want this?" I asked Heather as I held out the gun.

"Is this for me?" She asked. "I get the alien weapon? Thank you."

I just don't want it. It was nice and all, but I saw no point in keeping it. We continued walking, and after three hours of walking, and walking on the outskirts of a neighborhood, we reached Vault 81. I had Heather and Garvey take their armor off, took mine off and put on a flannel, and walked in. I went to open the vault door when a voice came over the speaker.

"Hope it right there. Vault 81 security. I don't know where you got your hands on a working Pip-Boy, but you better start talking."

I saw no reason to lie, but I still didn't get why it mattered. "I got it Vault 111."

"Vault 111? Haven't heard that one yet." So someone else has come through with a Pip-Boy before. "And what sort of business are you looking to take care of here in 81?"

What did it matter? I could understand where he was coming from, he didn't know me, but this seemed a bit much. "What's with the third degree?"

"It's called protocol. Think we let just anyone in here? Think again."

It went quiet before another voice came over the speaker.

"Who is it, Edwards?" The new person I could tell was a female asked.

"Ma'am, some new Commonwealth traveler. Not one of our usual traders." So I wasn't the first one to talk to these people.

"Let me speak to them," the lady said. "Sorry about that. Officer Edwards was just doing his job. I'm sure you can understand our need for caution." No, not really. Bit caution to this degree anyway. "For newcomers, we like to operate on exchange. You help us, we help you."

"Depends on what it is. Ammunition, food, guns, power cores, I've got it. Other stuff, not so much."

"Fair enough. Fusion cores. Three to be exact-"

"Well, you're in luck, dearie. I already happen to have what you need."

"Really? Then by all means… welcome. I'll be down to meet you at the entrance."

The speaker turned off, and the alarms signaling the opening of a vault started to go off. I walked up to the entrance, and it slid open after a few seconds. When it was done opening, I walked in and approached a lady with red hair and an officer. They were talking to a man about working conditions and stuff, but that conversation ended when I walked up.

"Sorry about that. As you'll soon see, we have a few maintenance projects underway. Gwen McNamara. Overseer. Welcome to Vault 81."

"Mason Black. General. Glad to be here. Let's skip the long stuff and get to the point." I dug the fusion cores out of my bag and handed them to her. "Here are the fusion cores you asked for. Please make sure whoever needs them puts them to good use."

"Dr. Penske certainly will. Now, I have work to do."

"Ma'am, what about his friends here, and the dog?" The officer, whom I could assume was Officer Edwards based on his voice, questioned.

"I'll allow it. Security is already extra mindful as it is. If he's lived this long in the Commonwealth, I'm sure he's chosen his friends wisely. If you need anything else, I'll be in my office."

We finished our conversation, and I walked to the back, where a doctor complimented me having no signs of radiation, which was surprising, and stepped into the elevator, taking it down and entering the vault.


	10. Chapter 9: The Vault and Diamond City

When the door of the elevator opened, after stepping out, a kid ran up to me and asked me a weird question.

"Hey, mister, are you really from the Commonwealth?"

Seriously? I'm not wearing a vault suit and I definitely wasn't from this vault, so where else.

"No, I'm from the moon. I've still got some cheese on the bottom of my boots," I responded, earning a laugh from Garvey and Heather.

"I guess that was a dumb question. I bet it's your first time here. I can show you around the vault if you want. Just five caps."

"Okay, here's your caps," I answered as I handed him five caps.

"Yes! I gotta show you to Erin. She's gonna flip." After he led us to what looks like a storage room, he began the tour.

"This is the Depot. The Combes family runs it. Erin and I are best friends. Her mom and dad fight a lot, so I don't like to go in there when they're around. If you need something, they're the ones to have it," he explained.

That was concerning. Especially if they fought in front of there kid, that could seriously mess her up. "What do they fight about?"

"I shouldn't tell you this, but everyone says Mr. Combes is sleeping with Tina. Mrs. Combes doesn't know, but he's always leaving her to do all the work while he hangs out with Tina." Why'd the guy marry his wife if he's going to cheat on her?

"Next stop, the overseer." He led me to a staircase on the other side of the vault, which was relatively small, and at one point said, "I bet you've killed a lot of strange things." Well, that is true, I have killed a lot of weird stuff.

"The Overseer's office is up there. There busy up there and don't like to be bothered. She makes the rules, but she's nice. I like her."

"That's good and all, but does she take care of people who break the rules?"

"Security mostly takes care of people that break the rules. But she's in charge of all the security officers. It doesn't happen very often. Next stop, the diner. Now we gotta go downstairs. That's where the diner is."

As he led the way, the kid told me about how everyone eats there and how it got crowded sometimes, and how the people who ran it, the Summersets, were nice.

"Hello, Austin," the lady, whom I could assume was Mrs. Summerset, greeted as we came up. "I see you're showing our guest from the Commonwealth around."

"Yes ma'am," Austin responded. "This is the Sunshine diner. Gran says they take all her hard work and turn it into swill. Mr. and Mrs. Summerset run the diner. They're pretty nice. Mrs. Summerset's pies are still the best"

"Well besides the pies, how is their food?" I questioned, feeling a little hungry.

"I like it. Mrs. Summerset always sneaks me seconds," Austin answered.

"I'll save you a slice of pie, Austin," Mrs. Summerset said.

"Next stop, Horatio. I told you they were nice," Austin said as he led me to a barber that was beside the diner.

"Do you like your hair?" Not right now I don't. I haven't cut it for a while and need to shave. "I like mine. I hate combing it though. Gran makes me comb it."

When we entered the barbershop, a man who looked to be in his early thirties greeted Austin.

"Austin, that hair of yours is a mole rat's nest."

"This is where Horatio fixes up people's hair. Erin's mom comes here all the time. Gran hardly comes here at all. She makes me cut my hair though. It's not fair."

I scratched my face as I asked, "Would he cut my hair?"

"Sure. He can turn your hair into just about anything. I wanted to make mine look like a skull, but Gran wouldn't let him. Next stop is Gran."

So I'll be meeting the person who's raising him. That's nice.

"Let's go see Gran. I live with her. She's not my real grandmother though. My parents died when I was real little."

Before leaving the shop, I had noticed a magazine on a table or shelf of some sort, and after asking Horatio, grabbed it and put it in my bag. I followed Austin to a garden of sorts like the greenhouse at Graygarden, but notably smaller.

"Hi gran," Austin greeted a lady who was tending to carrots.

"Austin? What are you doing here? Are you bothering that stranger from the Commonwealth?"

"Everything's alright ma'am," I assured her. "He's just showing me around the place."

"Hmph," she responded. Oh well, I've had worse responses.

"That's gran. You can call her Dr. Penske. She acts all grumpy but its not for real," Austin informed.

"Says you."

"She runs our hydroponics lab. It's where we get all our food."

That was concerning. What if they didn't grow enough? "You don't get anything from the Commonwealth?"

"Nope. Gran grows it all here. She's really smart. Next stop, Miss Katy. I'll show you where I go to school. I bet you didn't have to go to school."

You would lose that bet horribly.

He led me through a hall that led to another section of the vault. When we got in front of a room with a sign above it that said 'SCHOOL' Austin continued.

"This is the school. Miss Katy runs it. It's boring most of the time, but gran says I have to go anyway."

"Your gran is a smart woman, Austin," Miss Katy said from her desk.

"Well it's good to know kids are still getting an education these days," I told her.

"If you say so," Austin replied. "Next stop is the medical clinic. Let's go downstairs. I'll show you the clinic. Doc Forsythe and Rachel are okay, I guess."

As we walked down the stairs, Austin added on to what he said. "But I don't go there unless I have to. Or unless gran makes me." When we stood outside the clinic, Austin explained, "This is our medical clinic. If you get hurt or sick, you come down here. Dr. Forsythe says I can't bother him or Rachel his when they're working."

"Do you ever get sick?"

"Just colds and stuff. Hardly anyone here gets sick. Mr. Summerset broke his foot once though. They put a cast on it and he had to walk with crutches. Now we go see Erin. She's going to be surprised when she sees you. She didn't believe me when I said I'd bring you to her."

He led me to a room after taking me back up the stairs, where a child was sitting on the ground with her parents eating at a table by a bunk bed?

"Erin! Look who I found. The stranger from the Commonwealth."

"Wow!" Erin exclaimed. "You're really from the Commonwealth?"

I really didn't see what the big deal was. According to Officer Edwards, I wasn't one of their usual traders, so I shouldn't be the first person from the Commonwealth she's met.

"It's no big deal. I'm just a person like everyone else," I smiled.

"Yeah, but nobody in the vault hunts for their own food, or get into fights with guns."

"Well it's definitely interesting, I can tell you that."

"Thanks for doing my tour," Austin beamed. "I was so cool to show you off to everyone."

I turned to leave, but Erin stopped me before going and questioned if I had seen her cat. I had to think about it for a minute before answering.

"I think I saw him run by me upstairs when I got here. He's probably left. But don't worry, if he's left, I'll find him for you."

"Thank you! His name is Ashes. He's the sweetest little, gray cat. I just want him to come home." I went to leave, but before going back to the main sector, I stopped by Dr. Forsythe, who asked me if he could take some blood.

"Sure, just don't take too much," I told him with a grin.

"Excellent! Just have a seat and I'll draw some blood." After he drew some blood, he patched it up and smiled. "There. Hardly hurt a bit, eh? Thank you. This will be a great help. Now I need to get these prepared immediately."

I left the clinic and headed to see Horatio, needing to get rid of my facial hair that was growing. Cursed thing was starting to annoy the heck out of me.

When I walked in, he greeted me.

"Ah, I was hoping you'd stop by. Now I know from experience the Commonwealth shows no mercy when it comes to hair. So how about a trim?"

That was surprising. I had assumed he grew up here. "You've been outside the vault?"

"Quincy, born and raised," he said, once again shocking me. "My mother, may she rest in peace, she was a doctor. Imagine her surprise when she learned I'd rather cut hair than stitch people up. But enough about me, how about that hair of yours?"

"Did you say you were from Quincy?"

"Sure did. Looks like I was one of the lucky ones too. Last I had heard, Gunners had taken over."

"Some people survived," I told him. "They're living over in Sanctuary now."

"That's good news. Now, about that hair."

"Just a trim and shave," I smirked.

"Alright. Let's see what the Commonwealth has to work with. Just have a seat."

After sitting down, it took about five minutes to cut my hair, making sure to avoid my scars from my battles.

"And that's that," he finished as he put his scissors away. "Now, why don't you see if the Combes have anything for you."

After leaving, I headed up to the depot and saw Mr. Combes leaving place while his wife was behind the counter.

"Our Commonwealth guest," she greeted. "Welcome to The Depot, and pardon the clutter. I don't get much time to tidy up these days."

What clutter? Sure stuff was lying around, but I thought that was normal.

"I didn't know even notice."

"Thanks for being polite. Let me know if there's anything I can get you. I've got a little bit of everything lying around here. When you're dealing with items over two hundred years old, work just accumulates like crazy. Some days it's all I can do to keep my head above water. But you probably don't want to hear about all that. Let me know if you want to take a look."

"Do you run this place by yourself?"

"Well there's my husband, Holt, but once you need him, he's nowhere to be found. I swear the cat is more helpful than he is."

"Why do you say that?"

"I really shouldn't get into it."

I could tell there was something she wasn't telling me, and it wasn't really any of my business, but I was always bugging into other people's problems. "It's alright, you can tell me."

"Holt's just changed. He's never around, always claiming he has some errands to run. Back when we first met, he seemed devoted till the end. He actually taught me everything I know when it comes to fixing things. He'd spend every minute he could with me, and of course Erin after we had her. Now, it's like we don't exist, and every conversation we have is a fight."

What the heck caused that big of a change? It couldn't have been that Tina lady Austin told me about. If she's been raised in the vault, then he probably wouldn't have gotten married to Mrs. Combes in the first place. "Have you tried to talk to him about it?"

"I've tried, but he won't listen to me. He's always saying he doesn't have time," she answered.

"You'll get past this," I assured her. It seemed to be in the first few years of their marriage, and even before the war, those were usually the toughest. "Marriage can be hard work. He'll come around."

"I hope your right. It'd be nice if he was even around long enough to discuss it these days. But enough about me. I should get back to work. But let me know if I can help you with anything."

It was obvious she didn't want to talk about it anymore, so I decided to drop it and browse.

"I might be interested in buying or selling."

"Great, I have all sorts of odds and ends."

When browsing through what she had, I saw she had a gun labeled 'Overseer's Guardian' priced at nearly three thousand caps. When I counted how much I had, I knew I had enough, but it would take a great deal out of the money I had, so I checked what we were all carrying to see how much I could bring the price down to without spending too much, and put what we were going to sell into a pile for her. A total of three hundred seventy bullets, some glasses, a few guns including the lever-action rifle I had found at the fraternal post, and the armor we found on a Mirelurk, and all the junk we had brought the price down to sixty-eight caps.

After handing the caps over to Alexis, I told her I'd see her around, and went down to the diner.

I walked up to Mrs. Summerset and greeted her.

"Hi."

"Your that traveler Austin was showing around earlier that Gwen let in. It's always nice to see a new face around here."

Gwen? She must be referring to the Overseer, but that was a stretch so I decided to confirm.

"Who's Gwen?"

"Oh, Gwen's the Overseer," knew it, "but I could never get used to calling her that. I've known that girl since she was in diapers. If you need any food for the road, or just feeling hungry, you let me know. Our menus isn't quite as… exotic as the Commonwealth, but it'll do in a pinch."

That would be nice, and all we had was meat and it did get boring after a while, so I decided to see what she had.

"Let's see what you've got."

"Selection isn't what it used to be, but it'll do in a pinch."

I ended up getting some soup from her and four bottles of water and sat down at one of the tables, where the school teacher was sitting. After pouring a bottle of water into a bowl for Dogmeat and opening a can of dog food for him, I finally got to eat the soup.

"Think I'll pretend to I'm a vault dweller while I'm here," Heather smiled. "You know, get the full, vault experience minus the evil experiments."

"This place seems fine," I responded. "Doesn't seem to be any experiments here like in Vault 111. This one I'm guessing is perfectly normal."

"Seems that way to me, Mason," Garvey said. "These folks seem to live normal lives. At least as normal as you can in a vault."

I noticed Miss Kathy had been staring at us for a while and turned to her.

"Hello?"

"You're that new traveler. You must have had so many adventures out in the Commonwealth."

Yeah, a few. Some exciting, some boring.

"I've had a few interesting moments," I admitted.

"Stop being so modest. My kids would love to hear anything you've done out in the Commonwealth. Would you mind talking to them, and sharing one of your experiences?"

"I guess, but they're really not that interesting."

"I won't let them take up too much of your time."

To be fair, I have a lot of spare time. I figured Ashes would be fine outside the vault for at least a day and wouldn't go far. At the most, it would just delay me leaving to get Erin's cat.

Once we finished eating, I left Heather, Preston, and Dogmeat at the table and went to look at the generator room. I wanted to see what sort of shape it was in, and was a bit… disappointed. The ground was covered in dirt, and crates were piling up under the stairs. They seriously needed to clean the place up. I saw two people near the back and heard them discussing something about drugs and not getting caught. This wasn't any of my business and I wasn't going to get involved. I turned to leave when the woman approached me.

"Hey, outsider. Do me a favor, if my good for nothing brother asks you for Jet, tell him to buzz off."

"Who's your brother?"

"His names Bobby, and he's my poor excuse for a twin, so you can get a good idea of what he looks like." Not really. "Look, he's a junkie, but he's getting careless. If he gets caught, we're both in trouble. And, as much as I'd like to leave this canned paradise, that's not how I want to go."

"You want to leave the vault?" That was odd, but if she wanted to, I could think of one place she could go to.

"More than you know. There's gotta be more to life than this Vault. But if I leave, it's on my own terms. Not because Bobby screwed up. Now I admit, I've got my own share of the blame here. Bobby gets his chems from me, and I keep him on a short leash. But not anymore. I'm cutting off his useless ass."

So she was a chem dealer. That was unfortunate but could be worked around.

"If he's addicted, it won't help. He'll get his chems somewhere else."

"Why do you think I'm talking to you? The only other place he could get chems from is outsiders. Believe me, if someone else was dealing in this can, I'd know."

She left after that lovely conversation, and a guy who I assumed was the woman's brother came up.

"Hey, outsider. You lost? No trading going on here."

"I'm just looking around," I replied, not really liking this guy.

"Well, only the old generators to see down here. Oh and hey, if you got any Jet on you, I may be willing to take it off your hands. Say, 75 caps?"

He finished an argument with his sister about this not even two minutes ago, and is already trying to get more Jet?

"I'm not a dealer," I frowned. "I don't sell drugs."

"Hey, forget I asked, seriously, and if you could keep this little conversation under wraps, I'd appreciate it. Just don't let Tina know. She'd be all over my ass."

That woman was Tina? I could see the appeal, but I still didn't understand why Holt was cheating on his wife.

I walked back to the table where everyone else was and sat back down by Heather. I grabbed paper from my bag and a pencil and began writing. I kept drinking water throughout the night, and when I was done, it was almost nine in the morning. Garvey had fallen asleep on the seat opposite of me, Dogmeat had curled up at my feet, and Heather was laying her head on my shoulder. I blinked for a minute before turning my head away. It had taken a while for me to get used to just hugging Nora, so this was definitely uncharted territory for me. After fifteen minutes, Heather began to stir, and I gently woke her up.

"Wake up," I told her. "I've gotta head to the school real quick."

"Five more minutes," Heather replied, indicating she wasn't completely awake. I really didn't know what to do, but I'd rather get the story-telling done as soon as I could.

"I'm sorry, but I've got to get going," I insisted. "Better to go get it done now than later."

"You're carrying me when we leave then," Heather replied, and when I thought about it, that really wasn't a bad deal. She was light, so it would be easy to carry her.

"I'll be back in a few," I told her as I got up and reached under the table to pet Dogmeat real quick.

I went to the classroom, and as I was walking, I noticed a few of the vault dwellers either turned away or hid their faces as I walked by. Weird, but I didn't really know how normal vault dwellers acted, so I just wrote it off as normal for now. Entering the classroom, Miss Katy was in the middle of a math lesson, so I leaned against the frame of the door until the lesson was over before she noticed me.

"Children. Children, listen up," she said as I casually strolled to the front of the class. "We have a guest today, who is going to tell us stories about the Commonwealth."

"Did you ever fight a deathclaw?" Austin asked.

"How do you know about deathclaws?" I responded, confused since those should not be in a vault.

"I hear stuff. Gran heard about them from some Commonwealth guy." That explains it.

"Well, my friend Preston helped me kill one once."

"Cool! What happened?"

"Well, a group of raiders had him trapped."

"But you rescued him, right?" Erin asked.

"Well he's in this vault, so I would assume I did. That or I'm traveling with a ghost." This earned a couple laughs from the kids. "Anyway, he showed me where to find some power armor I could fix up."

"Power Armor! Wow."

"After powering it up, I ripped a minigun off a nearby vertibird, and with Preston using his musket and me using the minigun and a pistol, we cleared out the raiders. We were completely caught by surprise when the deathclaw came out."

"I bet you were glad he was there."

"At one point, the deathclaw had hit my dog, which, I will admit, ticked me off. I unloaded two magazines into the deathclaw, with Preston providing fire support until the thing was dead. And yes Erin, that is a lot of bullets"

"Thank you so much for that story," Miss Katy told me. "Children, say thank you."

After the class thanked me, Miss Katy held out a magazine to me. "And we have a thank you gift. Here."

"Thanks," I responded. "I love comic books. You should see the dance I do when I find one in the Commonwealth."

Thanking her for letting me come in and tell the kids the story, I held the magazine in my hand and walked back out to Heather and Preston, both of whom were awake with Dogmeat sitting beside them. After getting my bag on, and handing Heather's to Preston, I picked Heather up we walked to the elevator with Preston looking at us oddly.

"We made a deal to where I could go talk to the class early and I would carry her," I explained.

"I suppose that makes sense," Garvey responded.

"You're going to have to press the buttons, Heather. My hands are occupied holding you up," I told her.

"All right."

Stepping into the elevator, and Heather pressing the buttons, we went back up to the surface. When we walked out of the vault and got down to the lake, I set Heather down and had Preston hand her bag back to her. We started to walk around the lake to get to the other side and had to take care of some bugs, which was quite easy once you got used to their speed, and got to the other side, where Ashes was sitting on a dock.

"How did you know the girl's cat would be here, Mason?" Garvey asked.

"Intuition," I responded before looking down at the cat. "Ashes, you need to go home. Erin misses you. Head back to the vault and I'll see you when I get back."

Ashes got up and left, and I almost turn to start walking back to the vault when I hear gunfire in the distance.

"Crap!" I yelled. "Come on! If there's gunfire, then people are fighting. And if people are fighting, we've got to help them."

"Of course," Garvey and Heather nodded.

We started to run through the streets and came to an open area where I saw people wearing umpire uniforms fighting some Super Mutants. I quickly ran up to the one on the bottom floor and kicked it to its knees, before pulling my pistol out and shooting its head. I run up to the second floor, where Heather makes quick work of another, and on the third floor, a guy is glowing red. What was with certain enemies glowing red?

"Come on, gâteau de merde!"

It ran at me with a board raised high, and when it swung down, I felt cold as I dodged it. Before it could lift the board, I sent a strong kick to its stomach, sending it off the edge of the roof to the ground, right onto a mine. I heard the explosion as I came down, and one of the people approached me.

"Damn. Not afraid of mutants, huh? You're our kind of guy."

When I looked around, I noticed where we were and sighed.

"May as well go in while we're here," I told Heather and Garvey. "Get some trading done."

We walked in, and before we got to the gate, I heard some woman arguing with a man over a speaker. Something about how he couldn't just lock her out.

I approached her as she finished her argument and she spoke before I said anything.

"You. You want into Diamond City, right?" the woman whispered. When I looked at her, I noticed she was wearing a red leather coat and a press cap, and surprisingly straight teeth.

"I'm just traveling through," I told her honestly.

"Shh. Play along," She whispered before yelling into the speaker. She knows she doesn't have to do that, right? "Wha-what's that? You said you're a trader up from Quincy? You have enough supplies to keep a general store stocked for a whole month? Huh. You hear that, Danny? You gonna let us in or are you gonna be the one talkin' to crazy Myrna about losin' out on all the supply?"

"Geez, alright. No need to make it personal, Piper. Give me a minute."

So Piper was her name. She definitely had a great set of vocals, I'll give her that.

"Better head inside quick before ol' Danny catches onto the bluff."

"Let's get this over with," I responded as I tucked my hands into my pocket.

When we walked through the gate, I saw an overweight man wearing a patched suit and fedora. And he was fuming.

"Piper! Who let you back inside? I told Sullivan to keep that gate shut! You devious, rabble-rousing slanderer! The level of dishonesty in that paper of yours! I'll have that printer scrapped for parts."

"Ooh, that a statement, Mr. McDonough? 'Tyrant Mayor Shuts down the press.' Let's ask the newcomer? You support the news? 'Cause the mayor's threatening to throw free speech in the dumpster."

Why'd she bring me into this? I didn't know her, and while yes, she was a looker, that didn't mean I would defend her easily. "Look Nuka-Cherry, I just got here. Any crap going on between you two is your business, not mine."

"Oh, I didn't mean to bring you into this argument, good sir," The fat mayor said. "No, no no… You look like Diamond City material. Welcome to the Great Green Jewel of the Commonwealth. Safe. Happy. A fine place to come, spend your money, settle down. Don't let this muckraker her tell you otherwise, alright?"

"Just shut your mouth," I responded. Something about this guy rubbed me the wrong way, and I learned a while ago to trust my instincts. "I can feel my intelligence leaving as we speak."

"He's got you there McDonough. Guess not everyone gets won over by that shark smile of yours.

"Hmm, was there anything you came to our city for?"

"That's none of your concern, now is it, William Taft?"

"Well whatever you do, don't bother going to Diamond City Security for help."

"I've had enough of this Piper. From now on, consider you and that little sister of yours on notice."

"Hold up. You will orphan a freaking child because of one damn article? Now you better hope I never see you outside of Diamond City, away from all these guards. And that's not a threat. It's a promise," I proclaimed.

McDonough looked shocked before turning tail and leaving and going back to what I assumed was an elevator leading to his office, leaving Piper and I standing there with my companions.

When I looked at Piper, she smiled before saying, "I'm impressed. Not everyone has the courage to stand up to McDonough. Look, I gotta go get settled in, but, um, stop by my office later. I have an idea for an article you'd be perfect for."

When she said that, I noticed she had fiddled with her fingers, making me wonder what she had to be nervous about.

I headed into the city, pushing back the memories of the ballpark, and was greeted by the sight of a shanty town? Seriously, this was the 'Great Green Jewel of the Commonwealth?' What was great about it. All it really had was the wall, and even then that wasn't guaranteed to last forever.

Walking through the place I found someone who looked to be a doctor and walked up to him.

"A new patient," the man sighed as I approached him. Definitely a doctor. "A new file to open. Do you have a legitimate medical concern, or is this about our facial reconstructive services?"

Facial reconstruction? They actually had tools to do that? How the heck was that even possible?

"No facial reconstruction. Just soaked up some rads and took a few hits," I smiled.

"Alright. Let's flush your system and see what we can about those wounds," the doctor responded.

He led me to a chair where he injected two different syringes, one that was two get rid of radiation and one that was to heal injuries, and after patching them up, said, "That'll be thirty caps."

Counting the change, I handed him the desired amount and started looking for a place to stay for the night. It's not like I could head to the vault. And if I didn't rest for too long, my mind would go blank sometimes, and not because I would get distracted.

We walked around before finding a place called the Dugout Inn. That was nice, they turned a dugout into a bar. Really, it was.

We walk in, and once taking a look around, sit down at a table in the back.

"Can you go see what the room situation is like right now?" I ask Heather.

"One room is normally available all the time, but I'll go see if it still is," Heather responded before leaving to go find the owner.

When I know she's out of earshot, I turn to Garvey and ask, "What's on your mind? You look like you've got something troubling you."

Garvey looked at me for a minute before taking a deep breath.

"Look… I know I put you into an almost impossible position when I asked you to lead the Minutemen."

Not really. I could've said no quite easily.

"I didn't have any right to ask you to take that on. I guess I was kind of desperate at that point. I still don't know why you said yes… if it was for me, or for the Commonwealth, or for some other reason."

Some other reasons.

"It doesn't really matter. I just want you to know that I appreciate what you've done. If you look at where we were then, to where we are now… I can hardly believe it."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. It means a lot coming from you."

"We make a good team, General. No doubt about that. I've taken up enough of your time. We'd better get back to it."

As he finished, Heather walked up to me with a smile on her face.

"We got a room!" she beamed. "It was just ten caps."

I counted out some of the caps I had and gave them to her. "You shouldn't have paid for our room. I would've done it myself."

"Well, even before the war, ten cents was the difference between being able to purchase something or not. Now, how many beds does it have?"

"One. So fine for me and you, bad for Preston since he has nowhere else to sleep."

That was a problem. If he didn't sleep, that could affect how he did in a fight, and I did not want him getting killed. So I thought about it for a minute before saying anything.

"Preston, you'll get to rest first," I told him. "You need probably six hours of sleep, right?"

"Yes sir," Garvey said.

"Heather, you would say you need about just an hour more than I do, right?"

"Pretty much."

"Then Garvey, you get to rest first, since you need more sleep rest than us. Heather, we'll rest after him."

"Sure," Heather smiled, and I don't know why, but something in me wanted it to stay there. Sure, we were friends, but that was it.

"Alright then. Heather, how does he get to the room."

"It's just through the hall, door number two," Heather replied.

"Thanks," Garvey said as he stood and walked away.

"So, Mason," Heather said as she leaned over my shoulder. "What are you thinking about?"

"How I should buy a house here," I answered. "It's a lot cheaper in the long run, and when we have people coming through, they can always use the place when they're here."

"You're always thinking of others, aren't you?"

"Better than always thinking of myself," I answered. "Go mingle with the patrons of this bar. Can't socialize with me twenty-four seven."

She looked like she wanted to say something else, but I flashed her a smile, and she smiled back before going to talk to the rest of the people in the bar. Throughout the night while I was going through what we had and decided what we would be selling the next day, which included some ammunition that we didn't need, various women, and even a few men, came up to me and offered to get me a drink, though I declined all of them, stating I already had someone. I didn't enjoy lying, but at the same time, I didn't enjoy talking and drinking with strangers even more, Sure, I pretty much helped them daily, but I didn't really have to say much and got to go on my way pretty fast. When I had finished going through what we had, Preston had finished resting, and I walked to the room, taking off my flannel and putting it away, and laid down in the bed, with Heather joining not long after.


	11. Chapter 10: Hole in the Wall

When I woke up the next morning, Heather was using my chest as a pillow instead of my arm this time. Though that may have been due to the cuddling from before we fell asleep. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it did make getting out of the bed hard. Once I got out of the bed and putting on the bare minimum, which was a pair of pants and a tank-top, I looked at the time on my Pip-boy and saw the shops open in an hour. I decided to go ahead and see if Piper was awake to get the interview done since it couldn't take more than an hour, and Heather wouldn't be up for a while. Probably, I don't know. After putting my boots on, I walked out to the market and saw a man pointing a gun at someone. Seriously, it was morning. If this was important, why couldn't it have waited until noon? I leaned down and pulled my knife from my boot and walked between the people and got behind the man holding a gun.

"Put the gun down," I commanded as I pressed the tip of the knife to his throat. "Things won't end well if you don't."

Many of the people in the crowd looked shocked, and some were downright scared, but it didn't matter. This man was already threatening to kill someone who was probably innocent of whatever he was accusing him of.

"He's a synth, he'll kill us all!" the man yelled.

"Where's your proof?" I demanded. "From what I've heard, there's no way to tell the difference between a human and 'synth' unless you kill them. So either you put the gun down, or I'll kill you myself."

"You wouldn't dare."

"If it's to protect someone innocent, I would."

The man glared at me before turning his attention back to the other man. I watched him move his hand to the trigger, and dropped my knife and used my now free hand to force his hand upwards. It caused him to miss the man he was aiming at, and after twisting his hand to a painful angle, made him drop the gun, and used my other hand and a leg to force him to the ground. Before he could do anything, I released his hand and struck him in the jaw, rendering him unconscious.

After picking up my knife and putting it back in my boot, I turned to the crowd and saw the look of fear on their faces.

"Go back to your morning," I told them. Most of the crowd dispersed, while the vendors decided to start opening early.

I turned to the man that was almost shot. I sighed before crouching to talk to him.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"My own brother… if you hadn't shown up… he would've killed me…"

"Don't worry," I told him as I patted his shoulder and smiled. "You're safe now. That's what matters."

"I'm… I'm not a synth. I… I told him. I… I kept telling him. Why didn't he listen to me? I, uh… I need a minute."

Two of the officers had picked up the guy's brother and were leading him to what I guessed was their jail, and I walked up to whom I could assume was the officer that was in charge.

"Nice job, but I'm gonna-" was as far as the man got before I glared at him, causing him to freeze up. One of the good things about being raised by my old man, he made sure we could scare people just by glaring.

"Tell me this: Why don't you know how to disarm someone? Apparently, it's been over two hundred years since the bombs fell and someone who's supposed to protect people doesn't know how to disarm someone."

Some of the people nearby heard and while some were shocked, a few of them whistled.

When the officer had registered what I said, he glared at me, though it felt like I was being threatened by a kitten.

"You shut your mouth. We're riskin' our lives every day to keep assholes like you-"

"Safe. Yeah, no you're not. At least not my life. I just got here yesterday. Probably didn't know this, but let's put things into perspective." I leaned up close to his ear and whispered, "I could fight you in hand to hand or armed combat right now, and either way, you'd be on the ground out cold in seconds. Don't test my patience in the morning." As I walked away, the man looked shocked and kept his composure before looking at me in fear. It wasn't all that surprising. I usually didn't use intimidation tactics, but that's because I usually didn't need to. After walking up to the place that I could assume was Piper's office, and walked in.

"Glad you dropped by. You holdin' up, Blue?" Piper asked as I walked in.

I was surprised for a minute, not even knowing how she could be wide awake at this time in the morning even though I was almost wide awake, before answering.

"My favorite ballpark has been turned into a shantytown. So today's been great."

"Interesting you mentioning that, seeing as you're from a vault. Yeah, you're not wearing the blue jumpsuit right now, but the Pip-Boy and that 'fish out of water' look? Dead giveaways."

"The names Mason Griffith Black, pleasure to meet you. And it's really not a dead giveaway, more that you're a reporter. So, what you got for me?" I asked her.

"So here's the deal. I want an interview. Your life story in print. I think it's time Diamond City had a little outside perspective on the Commonwealth. You do that, and uh… I'll tell you what. I'll come wit"h you. Watch your back while you get used to the world above ground."

"What kind of interview is this going to be?"

"I ask you who you are, get your opinion on life out there, and maybe load up a few tough questions and keep it interesting. What do you say?"

"Sure. I've got nothing better to do, so let's get it done."

"Good. Let's get down to business."

Once we got situated on her couch, she began asking questions.

"So I know you're from a vault, How would you describe your time on the inside?" Piper asked.

"My family and I were frozen. I didn't spend much time in the vault," I responded. It was hard to tell her that, but I wasn't going to lie, especially in a newspaper.

"Wa- Wait. They boxed you up in a fridge? The whole time? Are you saying you were alive before the War?"

I clapped my hands together before spreading out my arms, before saying in a deep voice "Behold! I am immortal!"

"You know, I guess you kind of are, aren't you? Oh my god. 'The Man Out of Time.' So you've seen the Commonwealth… Diamond City. How does it compare to your old life?"

"Don't even try to compare the two. The world is nothing like it was before, except for criminals now being raiders and crap. And honestly, that's better than the way it was before."

"That's… surprising. I'm definitely going to quote that. Now, the… uh, big question. Why come to Diamond City? You're looking for someone, aren't you? Who is it?"

That was none of her business, nor was it any of Diamond City's business what I had done to come here for.

"Drop it, Piper, or I'll walk out of this interview. What does it matter in the first place?"

"This is news. No one else in Diamond City may care about the missing, but my paper does."

"Well, either way, you heard wrong. What I'm doing here is no one's concern."

"Don't lie to me, Blue. This is your story. Don't you want people to know the truth?" Piper insisted.

"I lost family, alright!" I yelled, my anger rising. It should've been pretty obvious I didn't want to tell her about it. Besides, what the heck does it matter to people in this place? I took deep breaths, and slowed down my breathing back to normal, and continued. "Now drop it, alright?"

"What's their name, Blue? Who are they?"

I grabbed my knees, keeping my hands from balling up, before sighing and releasing my grip, frowning as I turned to Piper.

"My son, Shaun, was kidnapped. He's not even a year old."

"The parent after the missing child." Piper sighed before continuing. "As heartbreaking today as it ever was. Tell me, do you think the Institute's involved?"

"I don't know," I replied.

"No one ever does. That's what makes them so scary. For the last part of our interview, I'd like to do something different. I want you to make a statement to Diamond City directly. The threat of kidnapping is all but ignored in the Commonwealth. Everyone wants to pretend it doesn't happen. What would you say to someone out there who's lost a loved one, but might be too scared or too numb to the world to look for them?"

The fact that people ignored kidnappings really shouldn't have been surprising. Raiders were common, and there were mutated creatures, so it didn't shock me all that much.

"Find who's responsible, make them pay, then burn their place to the ground. Simple as that."

Piper's eyes went wide before continuing. "I'll take anger over apathy any day. Good quote. Thanks, Blue. That's everything. It's gonna take some time to put this all together, but I think your story is gonna give Diamond City plenty to talk about. Anyway, I agreed to come with you, right? Watch your back? Just say the word when you're ready. I can't wait to see where this story goes next."

It was odd. Why would she leave her sister? She was still a kid and needed an adult to look after her.

"So you want to travel mainly to actually get more stories for your paper? That'll be a while. I'm going to be sure someone is looking after your sister when we're traveling."

"She'll be fine. She knows how to look after herself," Piper responded.

"Doesn't change that it'll be a while before we travel together. I already have two companions and my dog. Give me a bit of time and I'll bring you some papers with what I've been doing the past few weeks on it. And by a bit, I mean an hour or so."

"Great! Can't wait to see what you've got for me."

"I will expect the papers back though," I told her. "It's more of a journal than anything, so I can let my son know what I went through to get him eventually."

We finished our conversation, leaving me to head back to the Dugout Inn to get all our bags with the stuff we were selling. Grabbing the bags, I walked out to the market and walked up to a man with a sign over him that read 'Commonwealth Weaponry.' Well, that's nice. Makes it easy to find.

"It's the new guy. That's you, right?" the man questioned as I came up.

"Usually depends on who's asking."

"Names Arturo. I sell protection if you're looking to buy."

"Buying and selling."

"Self defense at its best," Arturo told me as he showed me what he had. He had an almost full set of what he described as sturdy metal armor, with the only piece missing the left leg, which I decided would be best to fix up when I got back to Sanctuary and give it to Heather, and bought it. It took a great deal of caps to pay, leaving me with a little over five hundred left over. After he took what I had though, I had a little over fifteen hundred caps.

"Pleasure doing business with you," I smiled as I shook his hand.

"Come back if you ever need anything." I went to the armor workbench nearby and made sure to take all the mods off the armor I just bought. The odd thing about them was that they were all lined with asbestos, and the only piece I could see that being useful on is the chest. After taking them off, I walked to the lady nearby at 'Diamond City Surplus.'

"You. I… I don't know you. Just keep your distance."

A bit jumpy but alright. After getting into a pose I said, "Here's you a statue of David impression."

She looked confused before continuing. "Good. Good… Now just answer me one simple question: are you human? Because I will not serve a synth."

"No, I'm Jangles the Moon Monkey,' I responded with the most sarcastic response possible.

"That's just what a synth would do! Docking the question. We don't serve your kind here!"

"Relax, I was kidding. I'm human as the day I was born."

"Well, you do look human enough, but I'll be watching you. I have eyes like a… well, they're good eyes, got it? All right. We can do business, but no funny stuff."

"Well here's you some armor modifications," I told her as I handed over the modifications I took off the armor. "Also got more stuff in my bag."

We talked for a few minutes after that, and after fifteen minutes of bargaining, I got six hundred caps for the stuff. After thanking her for doing business, I walked back to the bar, and a chill ran through my body when I thought about Vault 81. When I walked into the bar I found Garvey playing with Dogmeat. After greeting him, I walked back to the room we had rented and found Heather putting on her bag.

"There you are," she beamed as I came in.

"Hey, I won't be leaving you guys anytime soon. I was getting some bargaining done so we could head back to the vault when you guys are ready. I got rid of the stuff we didn't need. I did make sure to keep all our clothing, food and ammunition for our current weapons. I also left the stuff you're trying to sell in your bag. As for the military bag, here you go," I explained as I handed her bag to her.

"Thank you!"

"I figured it was getting heavy. So I took most of the stuff and put it into mine."

I put my armor on, and after making sure it was all strapped on, turned to Heather

"Can you be ready in ten minutes?" I asked her. "I've got a bad feeling about the vault today, and I want to get there as soon as possible."

"No worries."

"Now I've got to hand Preston his bag and put Dogmeat's onto him," I said as I was walking away. "Nothing bad about it, but it will become a pretty much everyday thing now."

After handing Preston his bag and spending a minute putting Dogmeat's onto him, I took my bag off and went through it to grab my papers to hand to Piper on the way out. At one point while I was getting the papers, Heather had come out and joined Preston playing with Dogmeat. Finally, after getting all the paper together, I stood up and turned to my friends.

"You guys ready?" I asked as I wanted to get back to the vault.

After getting nods of approval, we left the inn, stopping by Piper's office, technically by her sister since she was outside.

"Free paper to newcomers," She said as I came up. "If the Institute grabs you in the night, at least we warned you."

"Free paper sounds like quality," I responded.

"I'm serious. The Institute takes people! You should read up if you're stickin' around."

"Can you explain what the Institute is? All I've gotten are vague descriptions and a few things they've done."

"They snatch people up in the night and no one hears from them again. It's all in the paper! Better read up before the grab you too."

"I'll be fine. Just make sure these papers get to your sister."

"Your loss, mister," she said as she took the papers and began to go to the office.

As we were walking out of the city, Preston mentioned something about a possible settlement nearby that needed to be cleared out.

"We'll get it later," I told him. "We're heading to the vault. Like I told Heather, I got a bad feeling that I need to check it out before we do anything."

"Of course, Mason," Preston said, and before we went any further I wrapped my arm around him.

"Don't worry, we'll check it out as soon as we're sure everything is alright in the vault," I assured him with a grin. "Any chance for a new settlement is worth it."

"You're right," Preston said. "It's just raiders."

"Even if the security here is lacking in certain areas, I'm certain they can handle a few merdique raiders. Now let's lighten up the mood."

I turned the radio on my Pip-Boy to the Diamond City radio, and an old favorite, Uranium Rock, was on. I danced while walking, making Heather and Preston laugh at how bad I was, and Dogmeat getting excited. After a while, I had to stop to catch my breath, though, by the time I had to, my favorite song had played twice, and we were halfway to the vault.

We started to talk for a bit, mostly Preston and Heather doing most of the talking, and when we got to the vault, I took my helmet out of my bag and held it with one hand. Walking in, I noticed there were fewer people up here, and that a few of the guards looked glum.

When we took the elevator down, I headed to the Depot to see if Ashes had come back, and was surprised to find Erin there playing with her cat.

"Thanks, mister!" She said as I came up. "I was so worried about him."

"It was no big deal," I told her. It really wasn't. It didn't take much time.

"You're still my hero. Mom says I can give you this," Erina said as she gave me a teddy bear and a toy car. Nice. Definitely could use the screws. When I walked out of the store, I almost ran into the Overseer.

"Overseer, pleasure to see you," I greeted her.

"You're back," She exclaimed, looking relieved, yet desperate at the same time. "I'm not sure if you've spoken to Dr. Forsythe yet, but if you haven't, we really need your help." I knew something was wrong. "One of the children here is very ill. He's been bitten by some… creature and we need someone with good combat training to help him. Someone who knows the creatures of the Commonwealth." Well, I'm not an expert. "I'd like for you to please speak to Dr. Forsythe. He can give you the details."

Instead of replying, I clutched my helmet in my hand and began to hurry to the medical center. Based on what the Overseer had said, it was probably a molerat or some other creature that I had yet to run into that could go underground. Either way, definitely no way a child that grew up in a vault could do anything to it. Doubt it was a radroach, this place seems to keep pest out for the most part.

When I got to the medical center, Dr. Penske and Dr. Forsythe were arguing while Bobby was standing there trying to get their attention.

"I'm running the tests as fast as I can, Priscilla," Dr. Forsythe tried to assure Penske. "I can't treat Austin until I know what he is infected with."

Why'd it had to happen to Austin? I mean, I wouldn't want it to happen to anyone, but why couldn't an adult have been bitten. It wouldn't hurt them as much.

"Dr. Forsythe," Bobby said trying to get his attention.

"Not now, Bobby!" Penske scolded. "And you, stranger, will have to wait your turn. We have an emergency here. Austin got bitten by a molerat. Isn't that enough, Jacob? There can't be that many molerat diseases or toxins."

And that's why she's a botanist and not a medical doctor. Heck, I didn't even go to college and barely listened in school and I still knew there were a lot of diseases one thing could cause. And why did it have to be a molerat? Those things popped out of the ground, making it annoying to take care of them.

"Rachel is examining the molerat. Hopefully, she will find something. But these aren't ordinary molerats. Who knows what kind of diseases they are carrying? Because he's a child. It's affecting him more severely," Forsythe explained.

"Dr. Forsythe," Bobby begged. "Please! I think I found something that might help Austin."

That was new. I didn't this guy really knew much. From what I heard, he's usually slacking off.

"Hold on, Priscilla," Forsythe said after Penske tried to scold Bobby. "What is it, Bobby?"

"Well, you know that door Austin found? He found it cause of me. I keep my private things in there. He saw me get them."

Pretty sure everyone knows he's talking about his chems.

"Get to the point, Bobby. What did you find in that place?" Forsythe questioned.

"It's like a whole extra vault in there, but half-ruined and caved in. There was a terminal there, so I started poking around in it. There were some notes about using molerats to grow viruses. But they said they used 'em to make vaccines and treatments," Bobby explained.

"A secret vault? Good lord! I've never heard of such a thing," Forsythe exclaimed.

"Bobby, you're a genius," Penske said before I grabbed Bobby by his collar.

"Show me where this secret vault is," I demanded, Preston's jaw dropping and Heather jumping back. "You don't wanna know what will happen if Austin dies because of you."

Bobby's eyes went wide and his hands started shaking, before saying, "F… Follow me."

After I released his collar, Bobby back away before turning around and lead me through the hall. It wasn't that far though since it was in the generator room by the stairs. After Bobby opened the door, I made sure the safety for my pistol was off, then took Nora's ring off my finger and turned to Preston and Heather.

"I'll be back for this," I said as I tossed the ring to Heather.

They both looked like they were about to argue, but I shot the panel that opened the door from this side, then ran through as it shut behind me. Now Heather, Preston, and Dogmeat couldn't come through. They would've argued if I had told them to stay, and would've followed me if they said they would stay there. I really didn't care if I got the disease, but it would've made it difficult to give the cure, if there was one, to Austin if one of them got bit.

"Okay, if I was an all-disease cure, where would I be. Knowing Vault-Tec, probably near the entrance. Probably why that one elevator was shut," I pondered as I put my helmet on.

I walked through the place, water dripping in some places, and heard the sound of molerats in the distance. There was a med-kit on the pathway leading to a partially caved-in room and ran into a protectron that walked through the other door of the room.

"I knew it was too easy so far," I said as I pulled out my pistol and fired three rounds into one of its legs. "I mean, I got two stimpaks from that med-kit. Why couldn't I get through this without running into any enemies."

I ducked behind some crates as two turrets fired, and when they stopped, I aimed at the barrel of the closest one and shot twice before ducking back as the one further away started firing again. I took the time to reload my gun, only having one bullet left in the thing, so better to reload when I have the chance.

I fired two rounds in it as it stopped firing and said: "Embrasse mes fesses."

Before going any further, I took the armor I was going to fix up for Heather and put it on my arms. I didn't know how strong a molerats bite was, but I figured it couldn't bite through metal armor, so better to be prepared than dead.

After searching the room by the first turret and dining room, the only junk I could really find that was worth anything was some duct tape and coffee cups. I did manage to find a vault jumpsuit and utility one for the vault though, so that was a bonus. As I walked through the place, I found and explosives crate with some shotguns shells and two grenades, which struck me as odd, but oh well, wouldn't be the weirdest thing I've seen or found in a place it isn't supposed to be.

I kept walking, keeping a hand on my pistol in case I need to fire it, and found an area where the floor had been covered in mounds of dirt, with a molerat's body sticking out of one. I found a set of stairs where two molerats were. They hadn't noticed me, so I pulled one of the grenades I had found, and after pulling the pin, threw it, and right as it was above them, fired around and shot the grenade, blasting the molerats to bits.

"Well now I've probably alerted the rest," I said as I walked up the steps. "Wouldn't have made a difference if I had used my gun. It doesn't have a silencer, so they would've heard gunfire in the first place."

When I got to the top of the stairs two molerats popped out of the ground, and one tried to bite my arm, though I jammed my arm into the hinge of its mouth, keeping it from closing its jaw effectively, and fired my pistol into the others head, before sticking the gun up to the head of the one biting my arm and pulled the trigger.

"That's just great," I grumbled as I searched for any materials. "Now I've got to wash this blood off me before I exit this area."

I ended up finding some stimpaks, a magnifying glass, and some surgical trays, and when I was finished, I walked up the steps to the next section. When I walked through the door, I heard molerats pop out of the ground at the bottom of the first set of steps. And immediately turned around and closed the door as three molerats came up the steps. When they saw I had shut the door, they started to leave, but I pulled out the other grenade I had found and rolled it out of a crack in the door before jumping back. After it exploded, I looked at the door and saw the grenade had burnt the door to the frame, making exiting that way near impossible.

"Baise-moi sur le côté," I complained, then added as an afterthought, "not literally.

As I walked through the place, I kept an ear out for any molerats popping out of the ground and opening the door to a set of stairs, wasn't all that surprised when one popped out of the ground and two more came from around the bend.

"Come on, you overgrown rodents," I yelled as I shot the first, a glowing one, in its head as it came up the stairs. Another tried to jump from behind it, but I slammed the front of the gun into its head, knocking it to the ground, and grabbed the final by its throat and slammed it into the living one.

"Join your family in hell," I said as I pulled the trigger and shot them both in the head, spraying the floor with their blood. Walking through the vault, I came to a section where there were two visible floors in one area, like the atrium in the main area of the vault, but smaller and with the stairs on the side and not the middle.

"Talk about consistency," I muttered as I looked through a suitcase and pulled out a hot rodder t-shirt and pants. "It's like the front, but tiny."

I got up the steps and saw a molerat the size of Dogmeat coming at me.

"You must be the mother," I said as I pulled out my pistol. "Won't be too hard."

It jumped and tried to bite me, but I did the same thing I did to the second molerat and jammed my arm into the hinge of the jaw, and used my free hand to punch its throat. It reeled back, gasping for breath, and before it recovered, I kicked it with the back of my foot and knocked it down, then shot its head before it could regain its senses.

"Oh, come on," I complained as three more molerats came running from the cages. "Just once, I would like it to be as easy as making a small generator."

I used my empty hand to grab my knife from my boot and held it up ready to stab anything that came too close, and after aiming my gun for them, opened fire. The first and third went down easily, both taking shots between the eyes, but the second one almost bit me after I shot the first one before I slammed my knife hilt deep into its skull.

"Well that's nice," I said as I listened for any more molerats, and when I heard nothing, I sighed in relief. "No more molerats. And look at that, I wasn't bitten. So now not am I not sick, no one else is either. Now to find the cure."

I ended up finding a terminal that unlocked a door leading to another area, but the security was too high for me, so I had to look around for the password, and after searching the area, I found it in a desk near the back. After unlocking the terminal and opening the door, I walked through the halls and found three lockers lying down, two with skeletons in them and a third with ashes. Whoever did this must have cared about them considering it didn't look like they struggled to be put in there. I looked around and noticed a Miss Nanny bot behind a window and approached it.

"Oh. Another stranger," the Miss Nanny said with an accent as I came up to it. "Are you Vault-Tec security? I've waited so very patiently for you to arrive."

I looked down at my apparel before taking off my helmet and glancing at her.

"Do I look like Vault-Tec security," I asked with a raised brow.

"Over the long years, who is to say what is fashionable now," she replied before continuing. "True, your attire is a bit dirty, but not all people properly value the importance of hygiene and cleanliness." She then explained how she had made a cure over eighty years ago and had created a cure, then asked if I was authorized to release her. That was confusing. Did she not realize Vault-Tec was dead?

"Vault-Tec is gone. There's no point in following their rules anymore."

She then explained how her programming didn't cover this contingency and explained how she needs written or verbal authorization was needed to let her out. I really didn't enjoy lying, but if I didn't, the kid would die, and nobody wanted that, so I did what any morally confused person would, I lied.

"I am so authorized. You are released."

After she opened the door, she gave me the cure and explained how there was only one and she couldn't make it anymore, then asked to leave as soon as possible. I looked around for a moment, finding a terminal explaining that her name was Curie, short for something I really don't feel like recalling because of how long it is. Maybe she'll remind me what it means, but screw it. After finding a rag and wiping the blood off my armor, I headed to the elevator, Curie following me, and hit the up button.

After half a minute, it got to a hall with a terminal at the end that opened a door to the vault entrance and headed to the elevator that would take me back to the main area. When I got down there, I saw Heather and Preston sitting at a table with Dogmeat laying down nearby, but when they approached me, I pushed past them and hurried to the medical center. When I stormed into the place, I pulled the cure out and put it into Forsythe's hand and told him to quickly use it on Austin. I walked out of the place and took some deep breaths before sighing.

"A moment, please," Curie asked as I sat on a bench.

"What do you need?"

She explained how she had done all the research she could do here and wanted to travel the Commonwealth with me to discover new cures for diseases and benefit the Commonwealth. After explaining how after the bombs fell, the area was lacking in the science area, she insisted there must be men of science out there, which I guess was true since there were doctors, but I doubt they went to school and became doctors from studying for years and were still learning new stuff, which is what I guess a doctor already did, learning of new diseases all the time. When she asked if she could travel with me, I told her that I would be back later.

I walked back to the medical center and saw the Overseer talking to Austin, who seemed better, at least able to stand, and he complained how nothing exciting ever happens here and he just wanted to see what was in there.

"You're lucky I got a bad feeling about this place today, kid," I told him as I bent down to his level. "Otherwise you wouldn't have survived."

"Thank you," Forsythe said as he turned to me, and explained how Penske would be grateful and gave me a syringer for my troubles.

I then turned to the Overseer. Who told me the vault would like to thank me by giving me a room for when I visited.

"Do you mind if anyone who works for me that comes through uses it?" I asked. "It wouldn't happen often enough to be a problem, and they would all be people that wouldn't do anything to harm the vault. They would be wearing armor or have a gun with this symbol on it." I then pulled out a piece of paper with the Minutemen symbol on it I had sketched the previous night.

After the Overseer and I talked for a bit, I walked out of the medical center and walked into Garvey and Heather. They looked like they wanted to say something, but I stopped them and explained why I did that, telling them it would be a hard decision if one of them had gotten bit, and with me being the only one to go in, it made it easier because then I wouldn't have to decide.

"But it's all good in the end," I told them. "I didn't get bit and Austin got cured, so everyone wins!"


	12. Chaprter 11: Zone 3

After getting an earful from Garvey about being irresponsible, even though I did get the cure, I pulled him away and told him something he wanted to hear.

"Gather a squad of men and go to the Castle," I commanded. "Give me three weeks, tops, and I'll be there."

He looked surprised when I told him that, but it didn't stop me from putting my arm over his shoulder.

"Hey, you get to help reclaim this castle, and I get to kill something big. So a win-win."

"Of course General," he responded, excited to be taking back the castle, his smile a mile wide.

We went separate ways, Garvey leaving to get a squad, me going to get Curie. Before I found her though I ran into that Tina woman.

"Can I help you?" I questioned, my head cocked to one side showing my confusion.

She explained how since everything with Austin had happened, Bobby was using jet even more than before and wanted me to help.

"Any idea how I can convince him?" I asked her since I had never run into this kind of problem.

"You gotta convince him to go see Rachel. She's got some treatment drug that'll help him get clean. It's either get clean or get dead at this point, and that bastard better get his priorities straight," she urged, clearly upset so I backed away slowly before going to find Bobby. When I ran into his room, I saw him hide Jet quickly, trying to seem like everything was fine.

"Hey, the outsider. I'm just in charge of the generators here. Not sure what I could help you with," Bobby said, doing his best to act normally which wasn't going well for him.

"I'm here about your habit," I told him, giving him a chance to admit to it.

"Mt habit? No habits here, man."

Oh boy, he was definitely high. "You need to get help, Bobby. Go see Rachel. She has medicine that will help you," I revealed, figuratively crossing my fingers hoping he would go. I did not want to have to deal with a crying woman or dead body after what I went through.

"She, she can? I never realized there were drugs to treat… drugs…," Bobby said thinking it over, "If it's that easy, I'll do it. I'll go see her right now."

After making sure he got to the medical clinic, not letting back out, went to the generator room and found Tina working on one of the generators.

"Did you talk to Bobby?" she asked as I approached her, leaving me to back up a bit. I did not do well with people I barely knew close to me. "How'd it go?"

"He's nervous, but he made the right decision in the end. I made sure he went to see Rachel," I informed her.

"Thank god," she sighed in relief. "That's it. No more drugs, no more dealing. We're starting over. Maybe now I can get him to leave this can."

"If you really want out of here, you can come work for me on a settlement," I offered, knowing she likely wouldn't last a day alone.

"Y'know, as far as new beginning s go, that sounds pretty good. Count me in."

"All right, let me see your Pip-Boy real quick so I can mark the route you should take," I told her before handing her some leathers for the road. "These should keep you warm when you head that way. If anyone asks, tell them Mason Black sent you."

While I marked the route on her Pip-Boy, she went to the back of the generator room and changed into the leathers, and when I gave it back to her, I patted her on the back and told her to go say bye to her brother. She may see him again one day, she may not. I couldn't control that. After finding Curie and grabbing Heather and Dogmeat, we left the vault, me carrying Heather on my back again for the stunt I pulled. She was extremely light for a full-grown woman.

When we got outside, I turned the radio on my Pip-Boy to Diamond City Radio, and because I couldn't dance, I just sang along to the lyrics. The first place we found that I had to mark on my Pip-Boy, which is when I put Heather down, was an old Relay tower by Oberland. I ignored the new radio stations that I was receiving on my Pip-Boy and pulled out my pistol as we walked across the bridge to the other side of the river. Unfortunately, there were a few trucks on it, so we had to be careful when walking so we could see any undesirables, which I could unfortunately smell.

"It smells like a putain de dumpster," I yelled before I shot a ghoul that was coming out from under a truck, then fired a round into one by the one in front of it. When I looked at Curie, I couldn't tell if she thought my language was terrible or not, but her optical receptors did widen more, so that was enough for me. When I looked out at the road leaving the bridge, three more ghouls were running at us, but I got them all with one shot. At the oil they ran over.

"Why are ghouls ânes stupides?" I questioned before remembering their brains were rotted. "Nevermind, that was a dumb question. We continued walking, and when we walked by a trailer by the road, another ghoul came running out. Before anyone had time to think, on instinct I grabbed my pistol by the barrel and slammed the grip into its head, leaving me with bits of ghoul on me.

"That's disgusting," I muttered, wiping the blood on a rag that dog meat had before pointing to my left. "You know what, screw it. There's an interchange area that way, gotta get close enough to mark it on my Pip-Boy, so let's go."

"There are gunners over there," Heather informed me with a grin.

"I never said we were going to kill them. I definitely can't fo that right now," I pointed out. "But I can try to get close enough to mark it without getting caught. And I do, I'm just going to book it like a crazy ex is chasing me." Though that was actually my brother that had to run like a chienne. He was the definition of a fuck boy in high school. "You three stay here, I'll go check it out," I commanded, and Dogmeat sat his butt on the ground, Curie just hovered, and Heather looked for a place to sit. As I walked over there, I turned the radio to my Pip-Boy off, planning on turning it back on when I got back to my friends. Huh, those were probably hard to find these days. It took about ten minutes, I ran into two adorable brahmins on the way, but I finally got it marked, almost got caught, held my breath, and when I was sure they weren't looking for me, ran back to Heather, Curie, and Dogmeat, running like a little merde does from law enforcement.

"Okay, I'm back!" I yelled, thankful I wasn't caught. I was certain they had an assaultron, though it was up top thankfully, and got away before they caught me. "Before we go anywhere, we need to eat," I said, refusing to miss lunch. Wait, never mind, I already did that. So it dunch or linner, I don't know what people call dinner and lunch. After getting my food from Heather and giving Dogmeat's to him, I drank some water before letting Dogmeat drink the rest. I made sure my guns were loaded, and we started walking towards the partly sunken neighborhood.

"Probably some ghouls there," I muttered. "If not, then probably bloatflies. Either way, something that is putain de uglier than that Marcy woman in Sanctuary."

I heard Heather laugh, and I smiled at her, wondering why she turned away when she saw me looking at her. Oh well, it's probably nothing. I saw something wading in the neighborhood, and I pulled out my pistol before grinning.

"Hey, Heather. It looks like it's going to be full of ghouls."

"Let's do it," she said as she readied her rifle.

"You get high, I get low," I told her as I pointed out the ramps leading to the roof before running into the water and shooting the first ghoul in the head. "One down, who knows how many to go!" I yelled as I put my pistol away to grab my rifle and fired a round into one down the water flooded street. I was about to go forward when a body fell down in front of me, causing me to jump back in surprise.

"Well that almost fell on me," I noted as I waded through the streets. "Wouldn't be the worst thing to happen, definitely not the best."

As I waded through the streets, I kept my rifle up and fired at the head of anything I could see moving, having to be careful when we were almost done since it was almost eleven. By the time we were done, anywhere not on top of the roofs was completely dark, but luckily we found an area people had tried to set up at, where two sleeping bags were.

"Well that was fun," I told Heather as I sat on one of the bags. "Hey is there anything you need while we're here?"

"Can you grab me some mutated fern," she asked. "I set up shop in the one place of the Commonwealth it doesn't grow."

"Of course. I have some right here," I told her as I handed her the fern I had grabbed from the roofs. They looked interesting, so I grabbed them when I could. "Anyway, we got a long day tomorrow, so rest up. I'm beat, so I need to rest."

With that, I laid on my back, and closed my eyes, getting some much-needed sleep.

When I woke up, I felt something wet on my hand and saw Dogmeat licking it. Did I forget to wipe my hands after eating that molerat last night?

Checking the time on my Pip-Boy, I saw it was almost six. Did I sleep for that long? Yes, yes I did. Luckily Heather was already up, and Curie I guess didn't need sleep like Codsworth, so she didn't rest. After eating breakfast and making sure we had all our crap, I turned the radio on my Pip-Boy and headed north, towards an old trailer park. It took about six hours to get there, only because we were following the road. Had we climbed up the mountain, I probably could have reduced the time it took by climbing the mountain, but if I'm being honest, it was one of those days you can't explain it but you want to take the long way to get somewhere.

"Why are we putting up with this stuff this early?" I yelled as a ghoul ran from the park and jumped at me, tackling me to the ground before I pulled out my pistol and held up to its head before pulling the trigger.

"It's eleven, monsieur," Curie informed as she hit a ghoul with her buzzsaw.

"That is morning for me," I shot back as I killed a ghoul charging at her from behind. As we checked the whole place out, we only ran into one tough enemy, a glowing one that for whatever reason glowed red like that one super mutant did the other day.

"Why the Hades do enemies keep glowing red?" I muttered as I shot its legs off. "I mean its harmless, but odd."

When we had finished clearing the ghouls of the place, I remembered staring off for a minute, not even remembering what I was thinking about, before searching the lace for any goodies. I found the key to a trailer that had a lock I couldn't pick, and when I opened it, I closed the door, had Heather punch to be sure I was awake, and I now have no doubt if she wanted to she could knock me into the next week. When I opened the door again, I saw I suit of power armor, incomplete but not missing much, especially since I had the parts at Sanctuary. I let Heather have it though, the frame was too small for my body. It wasn't a complete loss though, as I did find a combat shotgun! Now I just needed to get shells for it and I would be good to go. There was also a magazine in one of the trailers, though it wasn't that exciting, just a Live and Love magazine. Still, better than nothing. After sitting by the pool and taking a break for an hour, my feet were killing me before I sat down, I went up to Heather and Curie.

"There's an old fort not too far from here," I informed them with a grin. "Not going into the fort, I believe there's a chance to find some good stuff in the area. Especially the blood clinic in the area. The blood that's probably there can be used for stimpaks."

Curie was looking at me for a moment before saying, "Those are the hands of an inventor, yes?"

That caused me to think. Was I an inventor? Heck no. I just followed the instructions I was taught. I was a producer, but in no way shape or form was I an inventor.

"No, I just make and upgrade things," I informed her. "Inventing really isn't my style. But I don't mind showing you how to make some things."

Despite her lack of facial features, I could see the look of excitement she had, her eyes being all I needed to read her remotions considering Codsworth was like her with her own personality.

"Anyway, it's about a two-hour walk to get there climbing through the mountain, so that's what we're doing so we don't waste daylight."

"You ever stop and take a break?" Heather asked, and I understood what she was getting at. The fact I hadn't really taken a break since waking up, working a lot to improve the lives of others, though that wasn't really work to me, more like a hobby.

"Well, when we're done exploring this zone, it's going to take about two days to get back to Sanctuary," I explained. "I've got some stuff I want to upgrade, including my armor. But we've also got a lot of stuff I don't want to either use or leave behind. I can find a use for everything. Besides burnt magazines. Ther is no use for them!"

After we ate some food before going and after I filled some glass bottles up with dirty water, we headed west. When I was talking about how long it took to get to the area, I was taking into account the time it took to get around the fence, not having anything to cut it. When we were close to the filling station, we heard gunfire, and I was going to let the people continue fighting after Heather informed me one side was the gunners and the other was the Children of Atom, gunners using combat rifles and Children of Atom using gamma guns. I had heard how they would force some people to join them, so I didn't really have an opinion of them since they haven't attacked any settlements yet. Unfortunately, I got pulled into the fight, forgetting that they could see Curie, so I pulled out my rifle and went for the last gunner first, sending a bullet into his head when he peeked his head out from around a corner. As for the Children, they weren't a threat once I shot each of them in the head. When I looted the bodies, I got a combat rifle from the bodies of the gunners and some combat armor pieces, a helmet that I would need, and some gamma guns and two Nuka grenades from the other guys.

"Who's trying to keep someone out?" I commented as we walked by the fort, noticing the sandbags and boards at the front.

"Bet you gunners are there," Heather responded, and that was a bet I wasn't going to take. I did not feel like kicking through those boards or moving those sandbags just to fight some mercenaries.

"Well we're at the blood clinic," I yelled to Heather as I pulled out my pistol. "Now we get to fight giant insects."

"Is that really the worst thing we've fought today?" Heather asked me with a smile.

"No," I replied as I grabbed a bloatfly that shot me in the shoulder, then shot it in the head. "Far from it. Today is one of our better days."

"Is everything alright, monsieur?" Curie asked as she and Dogmeat finished a blood bug.

"Yeah, everything's fine. Just bored," I admitted, sighing as we finished the last blood bug. "Who knows, we may run into some synths soon."

"That would be awesome," Heather said, and I could understand why since she wanted to kill fifty and we had only managed to kill twenty so far.

"Well, let's search this place for supplies real quick," I commanded as I went up the stairs. I ended up finding a terminal, with the password 'grass' for some odd reason and went into the room. I managed to find some ammunition and stimpaks, but what made it worth it was the magazine on the table.

"Heck yeah!" I sang with a smile a mile wide. "Massachusetts Surgical Journal!" The best part was my song was on, so I got to dance along to the tune as I put the magazine in my bag.

"This is normal," I heard Heather inform Curie. "It's kind of adorable."

I heard Curie agree with her as the song finished, right as I fell through a hole that led to an area I couldn't unlock before. After assuring them I was okay, I found a key by the door and unlocked it, before turning back around and looking for anything worth it here. Hopefully some blood packs, but first I had to fight insects. There was one tough looking one in the same room as another, but I quickly pulled out a Nuka grenade and threw it into the room and slammed the door shut as I ran away from the room. When I went back to the room, the blood bug was still alive, and that was annoying.

"Oh, just die would you!" I yelled as I slammed the stock of my rifle into it. After that little scenario, I kept walking through the area before finding a door with a button to open it, and I grinned widely when I saw what was in the room.

"Blood packs," I muttered. "Good for stimpaks and temporary healing. I need to see what I can about getting stimpaks to heal more. Hey, maybe you can help me with that one day, Curie."

Curie sounded delighted about that, so I made her happier at least. Searching the room, I managed to collect a total of twenty-one blood packs, which was amazing! I didn't have many stimpaks, so these would help with that greatly. Before we continued, I checked the time and realized it was fifteen thirteen, so I grabbed Heather and Curie, picked up Dogmeat, and started to head to an old mayoral shelter west of here. Luckily we didn't run into any ghouls or insects, so that was a good thing. When we got there, I had to set Dogmeat down while I unlocked the door from the terminal in a tower outside the place.

"Hey, Heather, leave the power armor here," I told her as we entered the place. "We got limited space to walk here, and power armor is clunky."

"Okay," Heather smiled as I turned and started to walk through the place. I knew it was a decent-sized bunker, for one thing, it was for the mayor, and politicians always have to have everything they don't need. For another, he'd had wife and child, so he'd make sure they had crap too. After walking through the dirt part of a tunnel, I found an area where the shelter actually started and had to jump back when a turret started firing. When it stopped, I pulled out my rifle and fired at it, missing three times because I hit the door it was behind instead if the turret and blew the thing up.

"That was unexpected. Probably more ahead," I warned. As soon as I walked through the door of the gate the first turret was behind, I had to get behind a pillar that was in the next room. Why? Because there were two more turrets on the freaking ceiling.

"I called it! I knew there were more turrets!" I managed to yell before a bullet grazed my leg. "Oh, screw you too, you underfed minigun!"

I waited till they stopped firing, and aimed around the corner like Heather does in a firefight and fired three rounds into the nearest one. I managed to get back in cover as the other one opened fire, and this time, I timed it and right as it finished firing, I fired three rounds into that one too. When I checked all three turrets for ammunition, they all had ammunition I could use for my rifle, which was amazing!

"Yeah, I'm taking your bullets, you pieces of merde," I muttered as I sat down and Heather came up with some wrap for my leg. "Thanks," I told her. "Now what's on your mind?"

"You know, my parents were Brotherhood. They were from California originally. Traveled to the Capital Wasteland under Elder Lyons," Heather informed me, which I guess I could see coming. For one thing, you didn't see that many good shots that weren't trained or something. She also knew how to take cover in a fight, something raiders and super mutants didn't. "At some point they fought with Lyons and left. Dad said they abandoned Lyons and his bad ideas, not the Brotherhood. I always had the feeling they wanted to go back to California. But they came here instead. Closer, you know, less dangerous trip."

"Cautious, not a bad call."

"My mom was a Paladin. She's the one that trained me with weapons. She wasn't going to have a kid that couldn't handle herself. She died a long time ago. My dad's a scribe."

"Did something happen to him?"

"He left us years ago."

"I'd never leave my family behind," I told her. "That includes you and all my friends."

"I love that about you. Your sense of duty. I guess he didn't have that."

"Well, I had a military man for a dad and grandfather. I guess it's just in my blood," I responded. "In one world I could be the world's biggest piece of merde." I stood up and patted her on the back. "Anyway, let's get going. There's bound to be something good here."

As we were walking through the halls, Dogmeat started whimpering, though what it was about I had no idea, just that when he did it meant a fight was about to go down, so I pulled out my rifle and kept it up, ready for a fight at any second, Heather doing the same behind me. We eventually came to a gym looking area, and when I saw nothing I thought it was odd and listened for anything out of place before freezing.

"Wait here," I commanded Heather and Curie with a wave of my hand, Dogmeat sitting without me having to tell him. I walked up to the part of the wall that had collapsed, pulling out the only other Nuka grenade I had, and walked into a tunnel with a dead brahmin at the end of it. I was about to approach the body when a shadow descended down, and I nearly jumped back when a deathclaw came down from a hole in the ground!

"Oh, baise-moi sur le côté!" I yelled as it roared at me, before chucking the grenade into its mouth and running like my life depended on it, which in this case it did! It started to chase me, but as soon as it reached the gym, the grenade went off, blowing the head to bits, covering me in its brains and skin, though that wasn't my main concern as I clutched my ears.

"I should have ran faster," I grunted as my ears felt like they were bleeding. "I've got to make sure I'm not in range of grenades or have ar plugs for when I use them."

Heather and Curie both came up and asked me something, though what I have no idea.

"I can't hear anything!" I yelled, not realizing at the time how loud I was. "Give me a minute for my hearing to come back!" At this point I was sitting on the ground as my senses slowly returned to normal, my eyesight still needing glasses to see correctly.

"Okay," I said as I stood up. "Everything's good now. Had to kill a deathclaw, but what else is new in this world." Heather and Curie tried to stop me, but I walked by them as I walked up to a pipe that I had seen when walking into the room, noticing that Dogmeat was still whimpering despite the deathclaw being dead. I pulled out my knife as I pushed the button that opened it, and had to duck as a synth tried to hit me with a baton.

"You know what, screw you too!" I yelled as I stabbed it in the head, then moved it to the front of me as another tried to shoot me. When it stopped shooting to reload, I ran at it and lifted it off the ground by grabbing its head before slamming it into the pipe, breaking it in the process. Not trusting my hearing at the moment, I could smell something close to artificial skin and began to walk down the pipe, keeping my knife ready for any synth. When I got to the end of the pipe, it came out to the room where we first shot down turrets and three more synths were in the room.

"Come get me, you mother truckers!" I yelled, annoyed that what I said earlier actually came true. I ran at the nearest one, ramming it into the wall before stabbing its head, and kicked the one by it into the third, knocking them both to the ground. Before they could get up though, I grabbed them both by the head and slammed them into each other, unable to tell who's parts were whos. I was breathing deeply, not from being out of breath, but from running and breaking their heads to pieces. Heather, Curie, and Dogmeat were behind me, and Heather had a look of surprise at the destruction in the room, but I knew this couldn't be all. They came in the same way we did, there were probably more up top, so I got them into the elevator and brought them up, and when I stepped out, I felt a laser hit my shoulder. Luckily I had my armor on, so it didn't hurt, it just annoyed me. Curie and Heather both got out and started firing and when I counted how many there were, I smiled.

Seven enemies, not the most I've taken on before. I ran at them, and before the first one could react, I slammed its head into a wall before grabbing its body and held it in front of me, the synths shooting the body and missing me, and when I got by another one, slammed the broken body into it and knocked it to the ground before stomping its skull in.

"You want a demon," I said, referring to a name my squad mates had given me. "You're gonna get one."

I ran to the nearest one and got behind it, and after wrapping both arms around its head, twisted it clean off, throwing the head at another and kicked the body into a third. So Far I had gotten three and Heather had gotten two, Curie the one I just kicked. Before the last one could do anything, I kicked its legs out from under it before slamming its head into the ground.

"I believe that makes thirty-five," I smiled to Heather, before falling to the ground, having exerted myself today than I had in a long time.

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that I was shirtless, or rather that I only had my tank top on my torso. The second was that there was something on my chest, though I already knew what that was. I tried to move but immediately regretted it, grabbing my shoulder in pain. Guess that laser did more than I thought. The second time I tried to get out of the bed, I carefully moved, so that I didn't A) Wake up Heather, and B) Damage my shoulder even further. When I looked for my Pip-Boy, I saw it was on a table by the bed we were in, which was the one in the main bedroom of this place. I sighed when I heard the song, The Wanderer. I never understood why, but the name of it seemed familiar for some reason.

"Hey bud," I told Dogmeat as I walked by him. "You alright?"

He barked happily in response, and I looked around for my bag before finding it by a safe that I had found the key for when I was first coming through looking for that deathclaw, which I went to get one of its hands for the leather. After giving Dogmeat some dog food and water, I grabbed a stimpak and two water bottles from the bag before sitting down in a chair. I stabbed the stimpak directly into my shoulder, grunting from the pain of it, before injecting it, feeling the wound healing a bit as I took it out and patched it up to heal over and let the stimpak do its thing, drinking both bottles after so that I didn't dehydrate myself. I grabbed my Pip-Boy and checked the time, and realized it was zero six hundred. I sighed before grabbing my bag, looking through it for another shirt to put on before finding a Hot Rodder T-shirt that we had gotten from that trailer park. It wasn't an exact fit, just a little small, but it would do. I left heather lying on the bed and found Curie waiting outside the door.

"Is everything alright, monsieur?" Curie asked, which I will admit was odd, before realizing I hadn't told her my name.

"You know you can just call me Mason, right? There's no need to call me monsieur," I told her before explaining I don't normally like using titles or honorifics.

"I see. Then will your wound inhibit your combat abilities?" she asked curiously.

"Nah, I'm ambidextrous," I explained. "As long as I have a one-handed weapon until my shoulder is fine, I'll be fine."

"That is uncommon, isn't it?"

"Well I wasn't born this way," I admitted. "It's only because of how much I trained using both hands. Otherwise, I'd be right-handed. Then we'd have a problem with the wound."

Curie thought about that for a moment before her three eyes lit up like she remembered something. "I believe Miss Casdin made a temporary sling for your arm. It should be in the Pip-Boy on the table."

In it? That would be odd, but when I checked it, I realized she meant the area my arm was normally in, so I did understand the confusion there. After finding my armor and putting it on, I put my arm in the sling and waited for Heather to wake up, reading the surgical journal as I waited. When she woke up, it was seven and looked like she had something to say.

"Is everything alright?" I asked, before apologizing to her. "I'm sorry if I made you worry. I didn't mean to pass out."

"It's not that," She told me, which surprised me. "I just want to know, what was life like before the war? Were you happy then? I hear the donuts were to die for."

I sighed before answering. "The world before was nothing but petty governments going to war, dragging us into it, shooting whoever refused to clean up the mess." That was part of the reason I had even been a part of the army. I had wanted to do something in engineering before being drafted.

"So not all that different from now. Think you could ever be happy here?"

That was… surprising to say the least. It had been a while since someone had asked me if I could be happy in the world the way it is now. Honestly, I hadn't even thought about it since waking up in the vault.

"I don't know," I admitted. "I never put much thought into it."

"It isn't all bad here, Who knows, maybe you'll meet a nice girl and fall in love."

Maybe, but the chances of that were slim. I doubt there were many options to date in this line of work.

"Maybe, but I'll save that for another day. For now, let's get ready to head out. There's a satellite array and a radio tower not far from here, about an hour walk at most, and I need to mark them before we head to the Lonely Chapel," I told her.

"Why are we headed there," Heather questioned.

"I remembered it has a hatch that leads to the Federal Rations Stockpile," I explained. "Either that or its position is a coincidence and just has a large bunker under it."

"Gotcha."

When she got ready, I put my bag on and moved my pistol to my left so I could pull it out if necessary. We left the place with Dogmeat and Curie and started our small walk north. About ten minutes away from the array though, I noticed walls surrounding the place and pulled out my pistol.

"Looks like we'll have company," I warned Heather and Curie, knowing Dogmeat probably smelled them long before I did. "Get ready for a fight."

It wasn't long before a machine came out, something that looked like a Mr. Handy missing two of its eyes with two protectron arms replacing them. So these raiders aren't complete idiots. That's something new. It tried to hit me with a buzzsaw and a hammer arm, but I rolled back and fired two rounds into its thruster, not grounding it but immobilizing it instead. It's started to shoot a flamer and a laser instead, but stepping back some more made the flamer useless since it couldn't reach, and I could roll away from the lasers before they could hit me.

"Is that the best you got," I yelled at it while Heather, Dogmeat, and Curie went in the walls. For the first time in a while, I was going to have to leave it to them to take care of most of them while I took care of this one machine. Every time it fired a laser, I either rolled away or jumped, and when it stopped, I ran up to it, and it tried to hit me with the hammer, but I ducked under it before sticking my pistol on the roof of its silver head and pulling the trigger, sending it back to where it came from. After another five minutes, Heather, Dogmeat and Curie came out, looking a bit disheveled but otherwise perfectly fine.

"Are you guys all right?" I asked as I walked up to them and put my pistol away.

"Great," Heather replied. "Fighting those robots and Rust Devils was fun."

"Well I guess you're fine," I responded before turning to Curie. "How about you. Are you alright?"

"Yes," She responded before adding, "Though I prefer to observe and not fight."

"Don't fight then," I told her. "If it makes you uncomfortable just stick by my side."

"Really, monsieur?"

"Eh, yeah. Please work on the monsieur thing," I told her before turning to the radio tower.

"Onward, my compatriots!" I yelled as I walked. "Onto bigger and greater things!"

We started going forward, me walking like soldiers in a school play or something. So a really sarcastic walk. By the time we got to the tower, it was eight, and I powered it up, getting three new transmissions on my Pip-Boy. Eh, I'll listen to them later. When we were walking to the chapel at one point we ran into two mirelurks which scared the merde out of me.

"Oh, screw you too!" I yelled as I shot the furthest one in the face and Heather killed the closest one. "Quit popping out of the ground like that you annoying baiseurs!"

When we got to the chapel, I noticed another helmet like the one Preston had with a mask and put them into my bag before making sure everyone was ready. When I was sure they were, I opened the hatch and climbed down, going into raider territory.

As we were sneaking through the halls of this place, I ended up giving Heather the mask I found to filter the dust, putting my helmet on so I didn't sneeze. I hate allergies, they are more annoying than molerats. We came up to a large room, and when I looked in, saw two turrets and a raider, and whom I could assume was their boss sitting in a raised room. I looked through my bag for anything for help, then had to check Dogmeat's and managed to find a fragmentation grenade in it. After pulling the pin, I threw it at the closest turret and waited before it blew up, the raider boss and raider coming to see what happened. Before they knew what hit them, I came out from my hiding spot and shot the raider in the head before putting one between the boss's eyes. I remember saying something about how I did good killing this person and her name was Red Tourette? Instead of blowing up the second turret, I hacked into the terminal and used the turret hacking program thing I had gotten from that one magazine and used it to override the targeting system.

"Sweet, a U.S. Covert Operations Manual," I said barely holding in my excitement, knowing there were more enemies here. "I'll have to do my happy dance later. For now, though, I've got to put it away so we can clear out the raiders."

"Stay behind me guys," I commanded Heather, Curie, and Dogmeat. "Let's keep the blood of the raiders off you." I began walking, finding a room with a catwalk, and heard one raider say, "Where is the fucker?"

I walked around the corner and held my pistol, said, "Right here, dear," Before pulling the trigger, his head exploding into bits. The other raider was eating something and tried to stand up before I said, "Sweetheart, it rude to play with your food," and shot her in the head.

I sighed as I said, "Raiders are a rather boring bunch aren't they?"

Heather nodded in agreement as I walked into another room with a raider and turret, and shot the raider in the head before kicking his body onto the turret.

I pulled out a mine and said, "Here you go," before tossing it onto the turret, the bullets still firing hitting it, blowing the turret and man's body to bits. I ran into another room where a woman had a lot of food on shelves, and before she noticed me, I had put my pistol away and grabbed the top of her head, squeezing it before it crumbled in my hand. Thankfully I was wearing gloves, so none of the brains or stuff got on me. We went through two more rooms, where I shot two different raiders in the head before we got to the main room, where we ran into a problem.

"Heather, mind taking care of the turret?" I asked her urgently. "I can't fight two guys and a turret at the same time!"

"On it," She said as she ran out and fired at the turret, while one of the guys thought it would be a smart idea to try to hit me with a tire iron. Needless to say, he's not with us anymore.

"You're badass," Heather said as I killed the last person down here.

"No, I just have military training. These guys are nobodies compared to who I've fought," I reminded her.

"Doesn't make you any less of a badass."

I laughed before reminding her, "Yeah, well we still have the outside to clear. So this should be fun. I'm going to need you on the front line and I'm going to need you to protect me, Curie."

"Of course, Mason," Curie said, and that made me smile. She was using my name.

"Well let's get going," I commanded as we went out the front. I'm going to skip the details of this fight since all I did was blow up a guy in power armor after shooting and short-circuiting the fusion core. When I looked at the sky, I noticed it was getting dark out and turned to Heather and Curie.

"We're going to Sunshine for the night," I told them as I turned north. "It's only an hour walk from here and the nearest place not marked is two hours away, and by the time we get back to Sunshine, it'll be twenty-three hundred. Now let's get going."

Spending the next fifty-five minutes walking, when we were tight outside Sunshine, we had to help the provisioner for Sunshine to Abernathy get rid of a Super Mutant that was on the bridge, which led to me kicking it off, so that was satisfying. When we went in and sat down at some kitchen tables that were built, it was nearing twenty-two hundred, so after eating dinner, we headed to bed in one of the beds that I didn't specify as mine and rested for about five hours.

Waking up that morning was annoying, not because I was in the same bed as Heather but because it was freaking dark outside! Seriously, why do I automatically wake up after five hours of rest on a normal day to day basis? I got out of the bed, thankfully my shoulder was fine now after doing nothing with it for a day, and checked the terminal that showed how many people were in the settlement and realized we had three new people, two men, a woman, and three teenagers. I put the three adults onto guard duty and put the teens onto farming, leaving thirty-six corn seeds for them, twelve for each. After that, I went around and checked out the conditions of the walls, happy they had followed the instructions on how to build it to the letter. No holes whatsoever, with a hundred spots for guard towers which would help for when more people came, though we would have to build more residential buildings for the place, to hold all the beds. I was about to head to the eating area when one of the teens came up to me, which I found odd considering how early it was. When I looked at her in the face, I was surprised by the damage done to it. It looked like someone had taken a knife and carved into it, using it for some sick game.

"I want to thank you for this opportunity, though it would've been better if I was on guard duty," she revealed, which would explain why she was up this early.

"So, you'd rather be fighting raiders, gunners, and creatures that may attack this place? Would that extend to all places or just this one?" I questioned.

"Anywhere there's a fight. If there's a fight I want to join!" she told me enthusiastically. This kid was amusing.

"How old are you, kid?" I asked her. If she was seventeen then I'd consider recruiting her for the Minutemen. Sixteen and under was a no go.

"I turn seventeen next month," she told me.

"Well, I'll come back next month. Still too young to recruit you. By the time you're done training though, you'll be able to go toe to toe with gunners easily. For now, work on your shooting when you're not working. And don't slack off on your job either," I informed her. "Otherwise I wouldn't be able to trust you with small jobs either."

She smiled and thanked me again for the opportunity and went and got the seeds she had to plant. I was about to check on the guns the people had when Heather came up behind me.

"You're already awake? " I asked in surprise. I knew she slept about as much as I did, but I didn't expect her to get up this soon.

"Of course, partner," Heather said.

"Alrighty then," I said as I put my helmet on before grabbing Curie and Dogmeat, and making sure they were ready, headed east.

It should've taken two hours to find the place. But combine my eyesight with how dark it was, and we ended up taking FIVE hours to find Rocky Narrows. Combine the Yao Guai that would've killed me if not for my smell, and it was a crappy morning. Even crappier than that one in Diamond City.

"Go to hell, crab cake!" I yelled as I pulled my pistol out and shot its head. It didn't go down after that though, so I had to dodge it as it tried to hit me with its paws, and I shot it three more times in the head so it would actually die. It was adorable, but it was annoying and wanted to kill me, so I didn't really have a choice.

"I am starting to hate the creatures in this area," I complained as we started heading east again, before adding, "Well, we'll be going to Zone Two soon, though once I'm done mapping the areas I'll probably name them something else besides Zone 1, Zone 2, and so forth."

"That's good," Heather responded. "That can get confusing for some people."

Oh, that I know. In high school, I named certain items something funny or weird to confuse people, and it worked like a charm since they couldn't figure out what I was talking about when they asked to borrow something I knew they didn't need.

On the way to the Mass Gravel and Sand, we ran into one of the Minutemen recruits fighting a man named Absalom, who thought it would be a good idea to fire at me. He's dead now. In the gravel and sand area, we had to get rid of two raiders and a few molerats, which was annoying but worth it. People needed food, and I'm certain fruits and vegetables got bland after a while. By the time we reached the electronics store, it was noon and I was hungry, so I decided to eat some molerat chunks. I was about to walk into the store when I heard something that sounded like rail spikes being shot? Now I had to see what was going on. When I ran to see what was going on, I immediately got a bit excited. Why? Because I got to fight something relatively new now! A bunch of robots!

"Come on cupcakes!" I yelled as I pulled out my pistol. One of the robots shot a spike at me, and I almost dodged it, but it hit my helmet and went through, leaving a deep gash on my cheek. Before it fired another round, I grabbed its shoulder and pushed it down before putting the gub to its head and pulled, blowing it to bits. One came and hit me from behind, and I grinned. Now, this was a fight! I put the pistol away and pulled out my rifle, bashed the stock into the one that had hit me, and fired a round into another machine's head.

"Two down!" I yelled before counting the rest. "Seven to go!" I ducked under another as it tried to hit me, and bashed my rifle into it before unloading a few bullets into its chest. "I got another one! Six left!"

Before any more attacked me, I shot another two in their heads, though I had to fire four rounds into one and three into the thrusters of the second.

"Make that four!"

One was about to hit Heather, but I put my rifle away and ran at it, before jumping over its shoulders and grabbing its head as I did, pulling it to the ground with me. They may be able to lift a lot, but they can't stop two hundred five pounds coming from behind! Before it got up, I reached down and grabbed its head, pulling it as hard as I could. Before hearing the sweet sound of wires tearing as I pulled the head off. That makes one left since Heather, Curie, and Dogmeat had taken care of two, though this one wasn't attacking us. When I approached it, I realized it was friendly when I heard it talk about its friends dying, though I noticed the voice was oddly female.

"You gonna be okay?" I asked as I approached it.

She told me how it was probably strange that she as a robot was expressing sadness, though it wasn't, and thanked me for helping her.

"It wasn't any trouble," I told her as I took my helmet off, Heather already having a cloth and wrap to help with the new scar going under my ear. "I was looking for some fun."

She then told me her name was Ada, and some guy named Jackson had given her upgrades.

"Who's Jackson?" I questioned.

"Jackson was the leader of this caravan. He had a great mind for technology. In many ways, he is my creator. He installed all my current upgrades. Unfortunately, they were not enough to protect them from the robots."

Upgraded? Wait, nevermind, she has a sentry arm and protecton legs. I get it now.

"You're upgraded?"

"Yes, modified using a workbench based on prototype schematics. The workbench allows for a wide array of robot modifications. Perhaps if I had more sentry bot-based defenses, I could have successfully defended my friends against those robots." That's cool! If I had that, I could make machines and have them be provisioners instead of settlers, keeping them safe from harm!

"They must be targeting you for some reason," I responded, finding it unusual they were specifically targeted.

"Probability is high that I am part of that reason. Besides myself, Jackson also created Turing, Hurtz, and Porter." After that, she explained how their parts made staying in the Commonwealth a risk and wished they had made the decision to leave.

"You couldn't have known something like this would happen," I told her, knowing what survivor's guilt felt like.

She told me how attack probability was high and someone named the Mechanist was the leader of the bots and she would seek justice for them.

"You want revenge, don't you?" I asked her since that's what it sounded like, which I would know since that's what I'm doing, seeking revenge.

She admitted her goal was two-fold and it both, protected the Commonwealth and avenged her group of friends, before telling me they last saw a group of her robots at a General Atomics Factory and asked to travel with me.

"Not now," I told her. "But I could use the extra help at Sanctuary for now."

"I am familiar with the settlement. I will head there until you need me."

Well, I was heading in that direction, so I followed her until we got to Starlight, where Heather Dogmeat and I rested for the night before continuing the next day.

When I got up the next morning, it was eight and Heather was already good to go, so I grabbed my bag and helmet and headed out, Heather, Curie, and Dogmeat following not far behind.

As we were walking, we found a suit of T-51 power armor in a cage. Sweet! Unfortunately, it had a terminal that was a bit difficult to unlock, but once we did, I stepped into it, surprised the frame was my size. It was hard enough finding clothing that fit, but I could easily make that. Power armor, on the other hand, was difficult to create, and the parts to make it weren't rare before the war but were probably hard to find now. Unfortunately, it wasn't a full set, but it was also only missing an arm and leg, so I didn't have to look for much.

"I don't care what people say, T-51 is better than T-60. One is just easier to maintain than the other," I commented as we continued once I got the left leg loose, which was a bit stiff after not having been used in probably over two hundred years, which made it odd that the one leg was the only part that was stiff. As we neared Lexington, I could see a new gang of raiders had set up in Corvega, making it clear once we got bigger I was going to have to start having a group of people keep the place cleared of anyone that wasn't needed and turn the place back into a city, though it would be a while before we would be ready for an operation that big. We ended up running into some raiders in that spot that had turrets, and they had put up new ones, though it wasn't too difficult to get rid of them this time. We passed by the old retirement home and soon got to Starlight, noticing it looked like it had been hit by raiders recently. After walking through the front gate, Heather and I got out of our power armor and I went to find Alice.

"Would you look at that," Alice remarked as she came down the steps of the guard tower with a limp, though it was clear she was trying to hide it. "You're back exactly a week from when you left."

"Did you fall or something," I questioned as I approached. "You've got a limp."

"Hit my leg on a chair yesterday," she replied. "It'll be fine after a few days."

"Alright," I told her in response, remembering the time I had a limp when I ran back to my class to get a workbook and hit my leg on a desk in fifth grade. "Well, we're gonna rest up here tonight then head out tomorrow."

"Ok," Alice responded. "We've got more beds now, so you won't have to go to that building to sleep tonight."

"That's excellent," I smiled. "Well, I'm going to go get settled in for the night, probably help around before going to rest."

"Go ahead. Probably haven't slept well in the past week if what I've heard on the radio is true."

As I walked back down the steps and to the workbench, I thought that it was weird for anyone to know what I had done before remembering the papers I had given Piper. I was going to have to get those back. After grabbing some materials from the workbench and setting them on the bar of the main building here, I took my armor off and started doing maintenance on it. It had definitely taken a lot of hits, so the damage to it wasn't unexpected. While I was doing all this, a few settlers came and talked to me, both thanking me for giving them a place to stay and some gave me ammunition. I guess they heard I used a combat rifle since most of it was .45 rounds, which was perfect since I loved the thing. I was going to hang Marie up when we got back. When I finished the repairs on the armor, I put it away in my bag and looked for a bunk to rest in for the night, and after finding one to rest in, laid down and closed my eyes.


	13. Chapter 12: Zone 2 Preparation

When I woke up that morning, Heather was on top of me, which at this point had become a normal thing, so I was able to get out from under her without too much difficulty and went to find Curie. She was near one of the guard towers when I found her, and she greeted me as I approached.

"Good morning, monsieur," she said as I came up. "I do hope you had a pleasant rest."

"What have I said about calling me monsieur?" I questioned. "I may start calling you mademoiselle in response."

"You speak french?" she questioned. Why did she have to be like Codsworth and have a personality that made her adorable?

"It was an elective I had in school," I responded. "I took four years of the language. And I had to help my sister when she started. Anyway, I need you to be ready to head out in about fifteen minutes."

"But of course."

I left to grab my bag after that interaction and found Dogmeat playing around with some teenagers. I grinned as I walked away, happy to see there were teens that still knew how to have fun. It would be annoying if they all were like that one from Sunshine. It could've been worse though. They could all become raiders. After grabbing my bag from beside the bed I had slept in, I took it out to the bar and took my armor out of it and started putting it on.

"Oh, hey Heather," I said as Heather came up behind me as I was adjusting the straps. "Glad to see your awake."

"That was the best sleep ever," she smiled happily. "We cuddled the entire time."

"Well, I was asleep, so I didn't really do anything. Anywho, you ready to head out?"

"Anytime," she responded as she handed me my helmet, which I put away into my bag.

"Then let's get going."

After grabbing Curie and Dogmeat, and telling the settlers I'd see them around, Heather and I jumped into our power armor, and we started walking. We didn't run into any problems until we got to concord, which was an hour and a half after we started walking, so we were wide awake, and it was just a couple raiders, so even if we had been half awake, it wouldn't have been a problem.

"Stay back you three," I told my group of friends as we neared them. "I'll take care of them. It's only five. It'd be a different story if there was a whole gang."

After putting my helmet on, I pulled out my pistol and walked up. The first raider yelled, "Oh shit!" before I shot him between the eyes.

"Where is the motherfucker!" another one yelled, and I walked around the corner of the street before shooting her in the leg, then punched her in the face, knocking her to the ground. Before she could get back up, I stepped onto her leg and shot her in the face. Another guy hit me over the helmet with a pipe, causing it to bend, and before he could react, I grabbed him by his throat and threw him into his other raider friend that was behind him shooting at me. Seriously, who taught these guys how to shoot? I heard another man coming from behind and sent a kick to his stomach, causing him to double over.

"How do you like that, you piece of merde?" I yelled before kicking him in the side of the head, then shot another one of the raiders behind me in the head as he tried to hit me from behind.

"Three of you chiennes down, two to go," I muttered as the one I kicked tried to stab me with a switchblade, which broke against the armor. "You piece of crap," I muttered as I stuck my gun to his before pulling the trigger. I was about to turn around when something hit my helmet from behind, and when I looked at the raider that caused the annoyance, she was holding a pistol in her hands. Why did she think that would work?

"That wasn't nice," I told her. "If I wasn't wearing a helmet you could've killed me."

I walked forward, and she kept shooting until the magazine ran out, and before being able to reload, I grabbed her by the throat and lifted her into the air, before slamming her onto the ground. Before she could catch her breath, I lifted a foot and stomped on her head, sending her to join her friends.

"It's safe now!" I yelled to Heather, Curie, and Dogmeat. "Let's continue!"

I started to walk and after thirty minutes, approached Sanctuary.

"Ah, home at last," I said as I walked through the gates and took off my helmet before looking up at Sturges. "Hey, Buffy! We got any newcomers?"

"Just three more," Sturges responded. "Didn't know where you wanted them, so Tyler just assigned them to scavenging duty until you got back."

"Well, that's… understandable, but unnecessary. Do you know where he is so I can talk to him?" I asked.

"He's in the mess hall. Must've just missed him."

"I'll go look there then." I then turned to Heather as I took my bag off. "Can you set this in the house while I go talk to Tyler. Shouldn't take longer than five minutes."

She nodded as I handed her my bag after we both stepped out of the power armor, and noticed she had trouble lifting it and Sturges offered to carry it, before almost dropping it and using both hands to pick it up.

"How can you carry this much and walk normally?" Sturges exclaimed as he looked at me.

"Eh, I just got used to it," I responded, clearly confused. It didn't really feel like it weighed much. "Though it's probably because I didn't lift it all at once and put stuff in it over time" I was about to turn and head to where Sturges said Tyler was when I heard someone behind me.

"Hey, it's been a while, General. About a week, in fact," Tyler said as he approached me from behind.

"Eight days," I responded. "Thought exploring the area would take longer. Turns out it's smaller than I expected."

"Sturges told me about it. It may be due to the buildings in the area that it seems smaller than it actually is."

"Yeah, well come with me," I told him and led him to my house. "I've got a present for you and Sturges." After walking into my house and found Heather and Sturges sorting everything. At least they didn't wait for every command. No point in leading something that can't think for itself.

"Hey, Heather. Mind handing me the two rifles in my bag that I don't use?" I asked as I walked up to them.

"Sure," She said as she pulled the rifle out, and the look on Tyler's face was one of absolute disbelief. Probably hard to find these this far north.

"Here," I said as I handed one to Tyler, then the other one to Sturges. "Take good care of them, and it'll be like a dog, scary-looking for your enemies but amazing as Hades for those you protect."

"Well I don't know what to say to this, General," Tyler said. "It's a bit much to be honest and-"

"Just call me Mason," I interrupted. "I don't get why people feel the need to call me by my title. Just skip the formalities and talk to me like anyone else. Other than that, while I'm traveling I'm going to start writing out plans for upgrades to guns and armor when I have the time. So it's all good. Besides, mine's definitely better." I then revealed the Overseer's Guardian to him and grinned.

"What makes this one so special?" Sturges asked as he examined the gun.

"When I pull the trigger, it fires an extra round by breaking the laws of science," I grinned. "I have no idea where it comes from, but it's useful. Anyway, I'm going to go fix up some armor."

"Wait a minute," Sturges said as I grabbed the metal armor. "Where's Preston at?"

"You didn't hear?" I questioned as I looked at him in surprise. "He's gathering some men to help regain control of the Castle. I told him to give me three weeks at the most."

"Well, that's good," Sturges responded. "That'll be good for you two. Getting control of the Castle."

"Well, I'm going to fix this up," I told Sturges as I made sure to have all the pieces. "Heather, we'll be here a few days while I upgrade the armor." I felt something nudging my leg as I set the armor on the workbench and saw Zeus looking at me with big eyes.

"Don't worry bud, I didn't forget about you," I said as I crouched down and played with him. "Now, were you a good boy while I was gone?" As I played with him, Dogmeat joined and I was soon throwing them a baseball to chase. Dogmeat almost always got it, but a few times Zeus did. As I was doing this, a few people chuckled at me playing with them, smiling when they saw the fun the dogs were having. Even in a world as crappy as this one, at least I could still put a smile on people's faces.

When I finished throwing the ball, Dogmeat and Zeus continued playing around, and I went back to the workbench and got to work on the armor. After polishing the pieces, which took a few hours, I set them aside as I took my armor off before setting it on an armor stand behind me. Was that always there? After setting it down, I went to grab some food to eat, before taking it to the mess hall. After finding a place to sit, I started to eat and talk to some of the people. Turns out one of the new people was a kid, so for now until he got older he would just work on the farm. As for the two adults, one was going to be farming while the other would be a guard. After a while though it became rather dull and I was wondering what I could do to make the mood brighter before noticing someone had set up a jukebox. I grinned as I walked to it and searched through the songs and put it on.

After moving a few tables out of the way, some people looked at me confused before I said, "Let's see if anyone knows how to dance."

Some of them were surprised at my act, some found it funny, but they all could see I was having a blast and slowly they started to join, some of them being a bit stiff with their dancing, though that was to be expected.

"Ok, some of you are a bit stiff," I said and some of them were confused. "Uh, think of it this way. Or rather, don't think at all. Just do what feels natural. Just let your body do what it feels is right."

I continued to dance and went around to help those that were still stiff loosen up, and soon it had turned into a fool blown party of sorts, everyone smiling. This continued for three hours, some leaving to get back to their jobs, and some coming in during their break. After a while though, everyone had left to go back to their jobs though, considerably happier than when they had come into the hall, and I started moving the tables back before seeing Heather standing by the door.

"What's up?" I smiled as I moved one of the tables.

"How do you make people smile without trying?"

"I don't try to," I admitted. "I just noticed it seemed a bit too depressing, so I put music on, moved a few tables, and asked if anyone knew how to dance. Though my father did always say I brought a certain spark to every party I went to."

We continued talking after that, Heather helping with the tables, and before I had time to realize it, it had gotten dark out, and people were starting to get ready to get off work, the guards changing their shifts.

"Well, I'm gonna head to bed for the night," I told Heather. "You can join whenever, but I'll be asleep by then probably."

"Night then," Heather replied, and I grinned at her.

I headed to the house and found Codsworth and Curie talking to each other. Well, they are both brands of a Mister Handy. All I really could see the Miss Nanny as was a female version of a Mister Handy equipped with a laser instead of a flamer.

"Hey, Curie," I greeted as I approached. "Hey, Cods."

" Good evening, Mr. Black. How is Mr. Garvey doing?"

"Not sure at the moment," I admitted. "He's gathering some people and meeting me by a place he called the Castle in a week or so, but he was fine last I had seen him."

"Excellent news, sir!" Codsworth exclaimed. "And Miss Curie here makes excellent companionship."

"Don't I know that," I told him as I patted the top of both their sphere bodies. "Anyway, I'm heading to bed. I am tired from all the walking this past week."

"And Curie, I'll need you prepared to head out tomorrow afternoon. After I fix up my guns and armor, we'll be heading to Tenpines. I can assure you if you have any questions, you can direct them to Codsworth."

I went to my old bedroom, where I saw Codsworth had put a picture of Nora and Shaun on a dresser, and I sighed. "Soon, bud. I'll be coming for you. And I'll kill the bastard who did this to us."

After taking my shirt off, I laid on my side in the bed and closed my eyes for the night.

When I got up that morning, it was still dark out, so I got out of the bed and went to my workshop area, which is my driveway with the armor and weapon workbenches there. After taking my Pip-Boy off and putting on Diamond City Radio, I grabbed my armor off the rack and started to see what I could do to improve it. I did manage to make it take more ballistic and energy damage, and it could also soak up more radiation. Couldn't do anything to the helmet. Luckily we had gotten a few weapons and armor from the raiders the previous day, so I turned what we had collected from them into scrap. After putting the scrap away and throwing the useless bits into a trashcan, I walked back into the house to fill a cooler with food. After putting some food into it, I grabbed my bag and strapped it to the bottom, then set the bag onto the couch in the living room, then went to the bedroom to grab some clothing to pack. When I was done I went back to the workshop and put the Pip-Boy back on, and checked the time, seeing it was fifteen minutes until eight. Probably would have to leave later than I normally would today. Didn't want to wake Heather, and no telling if anyone had set up camp in that one spot I had cleared out again. So I sat down at the table and started to write down plans for a shooting range for guards to improve their aim with pistols and rifles. I spent the next twenty-five minutes doing this, and by the time I had finished, Heather had gotten up and prepared to head out.

"Hey, mind meeting me by the gate with Dogmeat and Curie in thirty minutes?" I asked her. "I need to get my armor and a shirt on. I also put together some armor for you that I left by the workbench."

"Sure," she grinned. Why did she have to be that pretty?

After rolling up the papers and putting them somewhere for Sturges and Tyler to find, I went to the bedroom and grabbed a t-shirt and flannel, and after putting them on, went and grabbed my armor and put it on. After making sure my weapons were in my bag, and after strapping my pistol to my waist, I put my bag on and grabbed my helmet before going out to meet my friends at the gate.

"You guys ready?" I questioned as I walked up to the gate. After Heather and Curie both said yes and bark of approval from Dogmeat, I grinned. "Then let's get moving."

We started walking, and I waved to the settlers at Red Rocket, a smile on my face as we passed. We walked through Concord, though we took the long way around going east to avoid having to smell bodies, and before we got to the campsite Codsworth and I had cleared of raiders, I put on my helmet and pulled out my combat rifle, seeing four machines, two eyebots, and two swarmbots is what I'm going to call them.

"Curie, stay back," I commanded before turning to Heather and Dogmeat. "You two come on."

Dogmeat stayed by my side as we approached the bots, and when they noticed us, Heather and I fired our guns. Heather took down one eyebot with two shots and I took the other one down with three.

"Get one of the swarmbots," I commanded as I turned my attention to another bot and aimed at its thruster. "I'll get the other." We fired, and when the swarmbot I was shooting tried to hit me, I dodged out of the way and got behind it before shooting it's combat inhibitor, disabling the machine and making it fall. After checking the bots and collecting the fusion cells the eyebots had, I noticed that while the swarmbot Heather had taken care of was ash, I could take the head of the one I had taken out and take it apart to figure out how to build it… I'll just stick it in my bag for now. It wasn't particularly heavy either, weighing only about five pounds, so it definitely wouldn't hinder any movement.

"We're moving out!" I yelled to Curie and she came over to us before we continued walking. While we were, I figured we could stop by Thicket Excavations. I hadn't been to it, so I decided to check it out. There was a shack by the road as I walked in, making me think that it would be a good spot for keeping an eye out for people. I found a water pump, though I could tell that while it was in decent shape, there had to be something wrong with the plumbing since the water was as high as it was. I noticed a man sitting by a campfire and walked up to him.

"Lookin' to earn some caps?" the man greeted me as I approached him. "I could use a hand here if you're all done gawking, you know."

That was odd. Why was this man asking the first person he met to help him?

"Help you with what, exactly?" I questioned, not trusting this man.

"I'm trying to fix this old water pump. Should be plenty of scrap here - if I can get it drained out."

That was definitely a lie. Any scrap in that water was most likely unusable or worthless now.

"No. what are you really up to here?"

"Maybe I got some friends who like to go spelunking. Maybe I need a new hole to throw smart guys like you into. You gonna help or what?"

He shouldn't have said that. I was still gonna help the guy, but what made this guy so confident he could take me on. I was clearly taller than him, the man almost close to two heads shorter, and he definitely had less muscle than I did. A gun wouldn't really help him unless it was a combat rifle or shotgun of sorts, and he would have to be stupid to try to pull one on me.

"I'll help. But you have to tell me exactly what I'm helping you with," I told him as I crossed my arms.

"The pump isn't in top shape, but it should at least start. There must be some leaky connections flooding me out. Think you could fix 'em? The leaks should be underwater. Look for bubbles and you should find 'em."

I nodded before turning to Heather, Curie, and Dogmeat.

"You three stay here," I commanded. "I'm going to go find the leaks."

I took my bag off and went through it before taking out some Rad-X. The water was probably heavily irradiated, and I did not want radiation poisoning with the physical body of a twenty-five-year-old. After taking my helmet, armor, shirts, and boots off and putting them in my bag, I held the Rad-X in one hand and started to walk around the edge of the place. There were three leaks in all, definitely in different places but wouldn't be too hard even while wearing armor. After swallowing some Rad-X, I took a few steps away from the edge before taking a running start and diving in, the water feeling too warm for my liking. After finding the leaks and turning the valves to stop the leaks, I walked up a stone path that led into the water and back to the pump. When I reached it, Heather scratched the back of her head before turning away, which was odd for her. After pulling a couple rag from my bag and drying most of the water off, I grabbed my shirts and boots and put them back on before walking up to the pump and flipping the switch. After hearing it turn on, I walk to the man before hearing Dogmeat growl, and when I turn around, see two mirelurks coming at us. Why do crabs hate us?

"Come on cupcakes," I said as I got into a fighting stance, forgetting I wasn't wearing armor and these were giant crabs for a minute. "Show me what you got."

The nearest one came at me and tried to hit me with its claw, which I dodged before sending my fist into its face, knocking it back, before stomping into what I assumed was one of its knees, breaking it in the process, causing it to screech in pain before I sent another punch into its head. Yeah, it definitely didn't like me now.

"Aren't you adorable?" I said before it came at me again, this time trying to hit me with both claws at once. I ducked under them before burying my fist into its head, the face splitting as my hand went into it. I turned to see if the others needed help with the second mirelurk, only to see it had turned to ash. I almost turned away when I noticed something was sticking from the pile. After digging through it, I pull out a piece of metal armor that looks light and made for running, which was odd. But running from these crabs most of the time made sense, so I chose not to question it. After putting it away in my bag, I walked up to the man.

"Mirelurks," He said as I approached him. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that stirred 'em up. Anyway, I've still got some tinkering to do in this thing. Shouldn't be too hard now, though." He turned to leave before putting caps in my hands. "Thanks for pitchin' in. Here's a little something before you clear out."

I counted seventy-five caps when I checked how many there were before pocketing them, and put my armor back on and looked around the place for anything before finding a magazine for tattoos in one of the trailers, and after grabbing Heather, Curie, and Dogmeat, continued on our way to Tenpines. As we walked, I kept thinking about why I didn't find that man trustworthy.

"Ah screw it," I said as we came up to the bridge that led to Tenpines. "I probably won't run into him again, so no point in worrying about it."

"Is everything all right, Mason?" Heather questioned, concern written on her face.

"I'm fine," I responded then put an arm over her shoulder. "Just have a bad feeling about that guy we helped. Something struck me as odd about him."

When we walked into the place, the first thing I noticed was that the wall and towers were done, but there was no one new here, which is why it didn't surprise me that the first floor of the building wasn't together yet.

"General!" I heard someone exclaim, and I saw Katherine was tending to crops before I came in. "I didn't know you were coming. I would've had the first floor of that building built before you got here."

I looked at her with a questioning look before shaking my head.

"I was just going to be here for the night before continuing on my way, but I'll help you guys get on your feet so you can put up a beacon," I explained.

"That's great and all, but don't you have other duties to attend to?"

"Nope. I was just going to explore a new area of the place to find any spots for settlements, but it's obvious you need my help here." I then gestured to Heather before continuing. "My friend and I will help the first floor, which should be enough for twenty-seven people to sleep in. After that, and then be on our way."

Katherine looked surprised before thanking me for helping her.

"Hey, building is something I enjoy doing. So there's no need to thank me." I then turned to Heather and asked her, "Do you mind putting together some beds while I get Curie to help put the walls and second floor together?"

"On it," Heather said before I grinned and rubbed the top of her head.

"Don't change too much," I told her as I turned and walked to the workbench to get materials. After taking off my armor and flannel, and after grabbing the wood, nails, metal, and a hammer, I grabbed Curie. "I'll need to cut wood every once in a while," I told her. "Don't think breaking it by stomping, punching, or bending will get a clean cut."

"But of course," Curie said with her accent, which I found adorable. She was too innocent for this world. I got to work on the walls first, using wood for the frame and putting metal on the outside parts to protect from bullets, even if it wasn't much. At one point I hit my thumb with the hammer, causing me to drop it.

"Putain de merde!" I exclaimed as I clutched my thumb. "That hurts!"

"Is everything alright, monsieur?" Curie asked, clearly concerned which is why this time it didn't annoy me when she said that.

"I'll be fine," I told her. "Gonna cause some bleeding under the skin, but nothing I can't handle. Just going to take me a minute to adjust to the pain."

After the pain eased up, I looked at my thumb and saw the bleeding. I sighed before sticking my thumb up to my mouth and biting the top layer of skin off, making sure not to bite so deep it cause me serious harm since I want to keep my thumb in the future. Wouldn't cause any scarring, but would take a few days to heal. I took a rag from my bag and tore a piece off, sticking the rest of it in my pocket, before going over to the workbench and grabbing some duct tape and ripped a strip off it. After wetting the cloth and putting it on the wound, wrapped the duct tape around it to hold it on and went back to work, being careful not to hit any fingers this time. After getting the outer walls of the first floor done, I started working on the eight walls separating the rooms, the building being more like a motel than a house or hotel.

"You're definitely a builder with those hands of yours, General," Katherine commented as she finished working for the day. "Need any help with that?"

"No, ma'am," I responded, causing her to look surprised for some reason. "I'll be done by midnight, though if you want to help, all I'll need are a few lamps with oil in them. Maybe five at the most."

"I'll get right on it, sir," she replied, though the sir part was probably because of my job. Otherwise, I probably would've been treated with disrespect.

I got back to work when she left, and finished the walls after six hours and got to work on the second floor, and after five minutes had passed, I set down the tools and pulled the rag from my pocket and wiped the sweat off my forehead, the sun setting in the distance, leaving me to admire the beauty of it. It wasn't something I got to enjoy often before the war, my schedule full most of the time, but when I could I enjoyed it with people I cared about. I grabbed a bottle of water from my bag as I took a breather, and after giving the rest to Dogmeat, went back to work where Katherine had set out the lamps I would need. After setting them up in a few select spots until I would need to move them, I got back to work. At one point that night, Heather had moved the beds to the rooms and started helping finish the floors, though by that time I had finished more than half of it. When we finished and I checked the time, it was one in the morning, and Heather definitely needed rest. After making sure she was laying in one of the beds, I walked to the workbench and got the parts I needed for a beacon and generator and got to work. The sun was rising by the time I had completed both, and Heather had gotten up and had put her armor on. Now that I was thinking about it, it looked nice on her.

"You ready to head out?" I asked as I was putting my own armor on. After they nodded, with Dogmeat barking, I grabbed my helmet and bag. "Then let's get moving."


	14. Chapter 13: Zone 2 Part 1

When we left Tenpines, we didn't cross the bridge to get down the hill easier but took a much shorter route. By climbing down the hill in front of the place. Wasn't planning on breaking my legs though which is why I didn't try to climb down the cliff nearby. We followed the tracks east before they lead north. We ran into some boxcars, and almost ignore them before noticing power armor on the back of one. Normally I would've been excited, but when I looked at it, I realized it was too small for me to fit into, though it wouldn't be a problem for Heather.

"Hey, Heather," I said as I approached her. "You mind getting into that power armor once I get the door open?"

"No problem," she smiled.

"Thanks," I told her. "You've got a pretty smile, by the way."

She looked like she wanted to say something, but I jumped off the platform the power armor was on and followed the wire that connected to the cage it was in and found a terminal that was harder to crack than most terminals, though the password was easy to guess. It was TRACKS. After opening the gate, I walked back out and heard Heather get into the power armor and put the helmet of it into a bag Curie had on. Funnily enough, when I stood by her, we were eye level with each other which was a first.

"So this is what it's like being your height," Heather commented, causing me to look anywhere but her.

"I did not ask for my height genes," I responded as I crossed my arms. "I was just lucky enough to get them. My sister, on the other hand, not so fortunate."

"It's alright," she replied. "Being tall makes you look better."

I had no idea how to respond to that. My brother and I had always seen ourselves as average, mostly because we used our words to get what we either needed or wanted instead of physical appearances. Words spoke louder than actions a lot of the time. It was odd how his words could get girls to sleep with him.

"Yeah, well, let's keep heading north," I told her. "I see a shack on the mountain up ahead and see a partially caved in house over there."

We continued forward, and at the house, I find two bodies of dead radstags, and since they hadn't started rotting yet, it was obvious someone just used them for target practice, which annoyed me. Why would they kill something they weren't going to use? At least I took the meat of what I could off most things I killed, and when I killed people, I took there armor and clothing before moving their bodies if I find it necessary. After collecting the meat off them, not letting it go to waste, I roll up the leather and stick it in my bag, then walk through the missing wall of the house and start to head up the mountain again before I mirelurk pops out the ground by a small pond of water.

"You know what, screw you too, you piece of crap!" I yelled as I pulled out my pistol from its holster and shot its face, making it screech before falling forward. "Don't pop up in front of me like that," I muttered as I collected meat off it. When I finished we headed up to the shack and looked around. It didn't look like anyone had been here for a while, so we collected what we could, and before I go back to the tracks, I see a place for a potential settlement but see it has raiders there, so I follow the highway to a spot where it meets the ground and walk up it and find a good spot for scouting the area.

"What are we looking at?" Heather asks as I look through binoculars to see who's all there.

"Four raiders," I responded before explaining further. "Two are pretty ordinary, so they'll be easy to take care of. The others though, one has power armor and a Fatman, so we'll call him Boomer for now. The other looks to have better equipment than the two normal ones, so he'll probably be difficult. But first, we're going to take care of Boomer."

"How do you plan to do that, Mason?" Curie asked, uh, curiously.

"Three shots," I told her as I pulled out the Overseer's Guardian. "Get rid of the fusion core, and he'll have to get out of the suit. It'll blow up, so it'll also hurt him, and he won't use the Fatman since the armor is probably to protect him from that."

When I found a good spot, after putting my helmet on, I laid on my stomach, propped up the gun and sighed.

"I'll be honest, I'll be lucky to make these shots," I told them. "Cause I was too stupid to not bring a freaking scope for this gun." I saw Boomer standing at the edge of the platform staring this way, but clearly couldn't see us, so I lined up the shot where I knew the fusion core would be when he turned around and waited for him to turn around. Right as he started turning, I pulled the trigger. Three times. I don't know how, but six bullets went flying, each hitting the fusion core when he turned around and it started glowing.

"Heather, take Dogmeat and Curie and meet me down there," I told her. "I'll see you there."

Before she could ask what I meant, I walked to a spot where the road had fallen and jumped down, rolling when I hit the ground, not losing my grip on the gun. I broke into a sprint, and they saw me coming, but I had my rifle up before they did and had fired two shots, one into each raider. They fell before they even knew what happened, and I ducked behind a metal wall as Boomer and the tough one started shooting. Looks like I was right, Boomer was now using a pipe pistol instead of the Fatman. When they stopped firing to reload, I came out from behind cover.

"Don't let your guard down easily, puppers!" I yelled as I shot boomer in the head, and the other came at me with a knife. I let go of the rifle with one hand and caught the knife before it hit me, then hit the woman with the barrel of the gun, making her stumble back and clutch her head before I put my rifle away and sent a strong punch to her stomach, knocking the breath out of her before I punched her in the jaw, knocking her back. I quickly picked up the knife she had dropped and used it to stab her in the head, noticing her body was glowing red when she fell. I'm not going to question any more glowing bodies. I'd just lose sleep thinking about it. I was trying to figure out the name of this place when the others caught up to me.

"Hey, Heather. Do you know what this place is called?" I asked as she approached.

"Outpost Zimonja," she responded. "Used to be a settlement before those raiders killed the settlers. You did good."

I knew I had a look of surprise on my face before saying, "Well that's new. Hey, Curie. Can you remind me to make a robot to make a supply line between here and Tenpines next time we're in Sanctuary."

"But of course," she said, and it was still adorable.

"Ok, I'll need you guys to help scrap the junk here," I commanded as I refrained from pointing out how cute Curie's accent made her. Before we started, I noticed something on the workbench and picked it up before yelling in glee, "Yeah! I found another comic book!" I began doing my little happy dance, making Heather laugh and Dogmeat bark and jump around me. "I love comic books. I'm gonna read this later."

We started scrapping everything, though we left a generator alone because I wasn't going to scrap it just to build another one. It took an hour, but by the time we finished, the place looked better than it did before, and we headed on our way, this time following the road leading south, though it didn't take long to run into more excitement.

"Well now," I said as I pulled out my rifle again and a dog started running up the hill, clearly trying to attack me. "You need to get put down."

Dogmeat jumped and tackled the dog to the ground and stopped him from coming closer, and I lined up the shot and fired, sending a bullet into its head. Before I can put the gun away, I notice Heather and Curie firing their lasers and see them shooting at two turrets and another raider. I broke into another sprint, though Heather and Curie tried to stop me, but I ran past them and avoided the bullet fire, and ran up to the raider and kicked him in the stomach then lined up my rifle and shot him in the head. Without looking, I pull out my pistol and fired a few rounds into the turret behind me, blowing it up, Heather and Curie already taking care of the other one.

"Is it just me, or are raiders too easy to fight?" I asked as I went up to a cooking station and started cooking the meat I had.

"Easy for you, maybe. Settlers, not so much," Heather responded.

"Okay then," I said as I finished cooking radstag. "Here you go. You never had breakfast, did you?"

She tries to say no until I hear her stomach growl. "Eat up. Can't have you going hungry because you missed a meal." She tries to deny it again until I stick a piece of the roasted radstag in her mouth. Normally I wouldn't force food into someone's mouth on the chance they have allergies, but I had already seen her eat cooked radstag once, so I knew she could eat this. "No buts. Just eat so your not running on an empty stomach."

She gave in as she took the grilled radstag, and I roasted some mirelurk meat. It took half an hour to cook all the meat, so we were able to get traveling quickly again, before running into more trouble.

"Do we have bad luck today?" I yelled as I pulled out my rifle and shot at the nearest eyebot. "This is three fights within two hours of each other!"

When the eyebot got too close, I stopped firing and slammed the stock of my rifle into the top of it, sending it to the ground as a pile of metal scrap now. Another bot tried to attack me from behind, forcing me to duck under its arms and go behind it, making me stick my rifle under the front of its head and pull back before I hear the sound of metal breaking and wires tearing, and get sent flying back as the head comes off the body, no longer able to fight, falling to the ground.

"This zone is definitely more dangerous than the other ones we've explored," I commented as I helped Curie take care of a swarmbot.

"How long have you been exploring, Mason?" Curie asked as she fired a laser.

"No the time to be asking questions, Curie!" I yelled as I fired round after round into one of its legs before crippling it, making it to where it couldn't run, which was good since it could only hit and not shoot at all, which is a design flaw if they're supposed to 'help' people. "I'll answer that after the fight!" It's a shame because I usually enjoyed talking during a fight, but I doubt a machine reacted to taunts and insults like humans and creatures do. After ten minutes, we finished the bots, and I turned to Curie.

"And to answer your question, I've been doing this for a few weeks. Too lazy to recount how many."

"You're extremely proficient in combat! Have you had formal training?" Yeah, she was definitely too innocent for this world.

"A bit," I responded before gesturing to Heather. "She does as well, which is why she's a good fighter as well."

Although she didn't have a face, I could tell by the way her receptors widened that she was surprised. After checking the bots for anything useful, getting a robobrain arm off one and an assaultron chest from another, I turned to the others.

"Anyway, let's get going. I want to check out the galleria up there."

As we walked, I could see the wing of a plane sticking up from the ground to the west. Pushing it to the back of my mind, for now, I kept walking and approached the galleria where a Mr. Handy greeted me.

"Welcome to the General Atomics Galleria! You must be our new supervisor," the Mr. Handy said as I came up to him.

That was odd. Why were they waiting for someone? "Sorry, what? You're waiting for your supervisor?"

"Unfortunately, yes," he confirmed, which still struck me as odd. "If you happen to meet that laggard, let him know he is two hundred ten years late for his scheduled shift. I need him to report to the Director's office in the statue for immediate assignment," he said as he gestured to the giant Mister Gutsy model behind him. "In the meantime, I'm afraid the Galleria is closed to the general public. But if you have any questions, I'd be happy to assist you."

Well, I did want to talk to this director person, but I did need to ask this one some things.

"Why is the galleria closed?" I questioned, curious since I knew it was supposed to open, and I had been looking forward to the day it opened, mainly because of the machines.

"I'm sorry, but due to pending litigation, I am unable to comment. Please direct your inquiries to the General Atomics Legal Affairs Division."

That was to be expected. I doubt that an organization would give out why the opening is delayed.

"Who's the Director?"

"General Atomics' patented Director Management System (DMS) is responsible for coordinating the actions of the robots here at the Galleria," he answered, which explained how this Director was still alive. It was a machine. "The Director allows the Galleria to operate autonomously, without the need for human intervention.

Well, that explained how they had lasted two hundred years. Now to go see the Director.

"That's all," I said as I went by him and walked through the place. I found a lift leading up to the back of the statue and used it to get up. When it reached the top, the Director told me to step forward slowly after calling me a maggot. Now that wasn't nice.

"Hold it right there," he said as I stood in front of him, his lone eye turned up to look at my face. "I've been monitoring your approach. Impressive, Very impressive… for a lowlife criminal!"

What the heck made this guy think I was a criminal? It wasn't like I had done anything besides come into the place.

"Well the mafia wasn't accepting applications, but I do my best," I responded sarcastically.

"That's just what a commie spy would say. Smug bastards. Just what are you up tp? Who are you working for? I want answers! Wait. The Grand Reopening. Are you the Grand Reopening Supervisor 18-Alpha? You're late." This guy clearly meant no harm. If anything he was making me smile, which is why I was happy I had my helmet on.

"Something like that," I told him, not lying since I was here to see why it hadn't reopened, and I wasn't the supervisor.

"Manual authorization of the Grand Reopening requires authentication. So I'm going to need to see your ID… sir."

That was odd. There should've been an automatic thing for this. Especially considering it was run by robots. "Wait. 'Manual' activation? Isn't there any other kind?"

The Director looked at me for a minute before responding. "Automatic activation was scheduled for January 1st, 2078. Wait. Analyzing… corrupt task detected. Task scheduler repaired. Now executing previously scheduled task. Accessing protocols."

Now that was done, I sat down in front of the control desk and took my helmet off, taking a bottle of water from my bag to drink. It was warm today, which while it was odd wasn't new. It happened a lot before the war, so I was used to this. After he finished everything, the director came and handed me seventy-five bucks.

"As the Grand Reopening Supervisor, you will be conducting tonight's customer appreciation raffle. Here is the grand prize. I've requisitioned supplies from headquarters. We'll just have to hold out until they get through. That'll be all, soldier. Dismissed."

He was certainly interesting. One day I would have to come back here and see what I could do about reprogramming them to take caps instead of dollars and cents and work as a way for the Minutemen to get money.

After grabbing my helmet and taking the lift back down, I find Heather, Curie, and Dogmeat waiting for me by the gate, and I walk up to them.

"There's a plane crash nearby," I told them. "We're going to see if there's anything there."

We started walking, and on the way, I picked up some plants that were on the ground to use them for whatever I could find a use for when I had the chance. When we got to it, as we walked under a plane wing, I heard shooting and crouched down, gesturing for Heather and Dogmeat to do the same and for Curie to stay where she was. When I saw what was going on, I sighed. A scavenger was fighting a swarmbot. May as well check out this one part that's nowhere near while they fight. A few of the suitcases lying around were locked, but after picking them got a few shirts and pants from them, and even found a dress that would probably look nice on Heather. Of course right after I slapped my forehead for thinking that, which caused everyone to look at me confused.

"Please ignore that," I told them as I hastily stuffed the dress in my bag and put my helmet on. "Just trying to get something out of my head."

"Something interesting?" Curie asked with curiosity

"Just drop it," I responded as I put my bag back on and walked to the next part where the swarmbot had fallen. Looks like the scavenger won. I found an unlocked suitcase with a skeleton near it, and when I opened it, found a lot of Vault-Tec t-shirts.

"Curie, can you come here for a minute," I asked as she floated over.

"What do you need?"

"I need to strap this onto you," I answered as I held up the suitcase. "Has some shirts we can give settlers when it's warm."

She stayed still while I strapped it on, and I walked up to the main area of the plane where the cockpit of it was and would've lost my head if it wasn't for my helmet.

"Did you try to kill me?" I yelled at the scavenger as I pulled my pistol out and shot her leg twice.

"Dir asshole!" she yelled as she tried to shoot my chest. It was ineffective since she had a pipe pistol and used .38 rounds, which bounced off the armor harmlessly.

"Well now, that wasn't nice or effective," I said as I stepped closer.

"What the hell?" she questioned as she emptied the magazine and I stepped up to her. "What are you?"

"I'm a human," I told her as I lifted my helmet, revealing my face underneath. I stuck my gun up to the side of her head and pulled the trigger, making her fall sideways to the ground. I didn't loot her body, mainly because she was a woman and it felt wrong to do that even to a corpse, so after moving her body to the area underneath, I asked Heather to get the clothing and armor off the body and went back up to the top area. While searching, I found a flight recording in the cockpit and pocketed it for now and found some combat armor pieces in one of the suitcases.

"Check this out!" I yelled to Heather as I held up the armor. "Combat armor! Better than metal at protecting from lasers."

"Nice," Heather commented.

"I'll fix it up for you when I get the chance," I told her as I put them in my bag, and she looked surprised. "I worked on my own set in the army and it was decent enough, the right arm was even a heavy variant."

"So that's how you know how to work with armor," Heather responded. "Most people are jealous of people who can craft things with their hands."

"Well anyone can," I told her as I searched the bathrooms. "They just got to have the time and patience to do it. But if everyone was like that then its be a dull world." I about leave the bathroom I was searching when I see a comic on top of the back of the toilet in here. "Sweet!" I yelled in glee. "Two comics in one day! Can this get any better?" That's when I remembered an earlier statement. "Nevermind, we have had a pretty bad day so far."

After putting the comic away and searching the rest of the area and collecting what we could, we start heading east again, and as I'm marking the Dark Hollow Pond on my Pip-Boy, a mirelurk came out of the water, though this was definitely different. Still, I had no name for it.

"What the heck is this one called?" I asked Heather as I quickly pulled out my shotgun.

"Mirelurk Hunter," she informed as she shot her laser rifle.

"Where's its head?" I ask, before opening fire when it gets too close and it flips onto its back immobile. "Nevermind found it."

As I collect the meat off it, I grin and comment, "That was one of my luckiest shots which is odd since I have the worst luck in the world."

"For someone who looks so young, you are remarkable at combat," Curie said. "How old are you?"

That was something I was hoping she didn't ask, mainly because I didn't know whether I should lie or tell the truth. I guess I'll tell both.

"Lie: Twenty-five. And I say that because I am physically and mentally a twenty-five year old. But truthfully, one-hundred-thirty-five," I told her. "Short version, born before the bombs, cryogenically frozen, woke up recently. That's all I'm going to say."

Before she can ask any more, I start walking north, and I can hear Heather explain to her what happened, and soon we came up to a Mass Fusion Containment Shed. While this place was more dangerous, the places were definitely more packed together, so I couldn't wait to explore Boston where everything was close to each other.

"This has got be a putain de blague," I scoffed as I pulled my rifle out and shot the leg of a feral that ran at me. "This is real nice. We get to shoot ferals."

After shooting it in the head, Heather had taken care of the other one when I felt the radiation in the air and immediately grabbed the Rad-X from my bag.

"Heather, take Dogmeat and wait by the road," I commanded. "You can't get radiation poisoning because we're exploring this place and you don't need to be prone to infections from using this. At least if I get one, you and Curie will be able to take care of it easily." After ushering them out the door, I turned to Curie and had her follow me. She wasn't affected by the radiation, so I knew she would survive, and explored the area. All we found in it was a fusion core, which made it worth it and left to meet Heather and Dogmeat. We started walking again, though this time I turned the radio on and sang and danced to the tune of the songs as we walked, and I made sure to be alert in case we had to start fighting again and marked down a radio tower as we passed by it and would stop by it later. As we followed the path, we ran into a few super mutants trying to take a settler to some tower.

"Die human!" one yelled as he tried to hit me with a sledgehammer. Luckily, even with his strength, it was still a slow weapon, so I was able to sidestep it easily before kicking it in the stomach, making it clutch itself before I lifted my foot and brought it down on the back of his head, making it go face-first into the asphalt. The other three tried to shoot at me, but I quickly lifted the body of the one I had knocked out and used his body as a meatshield, his back absorbing the bullets, waking him and making him headbutt me. I staggered back and checked the glass of the helmet, which was now cracked, and got annoyed. It was hard to find glass this large for helmets, even harder to find bulletproof glass.

"Well screw you too, âne!" I yelled at it as I pulled my pistol out and fired a bullet into its head. "Now learn when to stay down!" I ran to the nearest one and avoided bullets as well as I could while one grazed my right arm, kicked him in the stomach, and when he bent over, wrapped my arm around its neck and fired a shot right into its head, the blood splattered behind and some fell onto my arm, and when I looked for the other two, Heather and Curie had taken care of them.

"Thank you," the settler said as I untied the rope binding her hands. "They were taking me to this tower. I think they were gonna eat me!"

"You're safe now, ma'am," I comforted her. "Head home to your friends now."

After making sure she was alright, I sent her on her way and head to the lake. On the way, we run into a scavenger protecting a fridge. Even after I tell him I'm just passing by though and don't want the fridge though, he still tried to kill me, so I had to put a bullet into his head. I didn't want to, but he didn't really leave me a choice. When I looked at what was in the fridge I understood why he was so paranoid. It had a gauss rifle in it with ammunition, and that was sure to get a lot of caps considering how well it worked for specific situations. After pocketing the ammunition and putting the gun in my bag, I go to the lake and mark it on my map with a name too annoying and long to pronounce. I look at the time and realize we have three hours until sunset, so almost turn to head back to the galleria for the night before staggering forward as something hit my shoulder from behind. I didn't have time to react as something else hit my back and sent me sprawling to the ground, forcing me to roll over to avoid a large stone hammer to the head.

"Oh, screw you too, you robot!" I yell as I see a swarmbot had tried to kill me. It tried to bring its hammer down again, but I kick its legs out from under it and knocked it to the ground. It tries to get up, but I quickly grab my shotgun and blow its head off.

"Not today, chienne," I grunted as I stood up and looked for any more bots, and get pissed. Instead of just machines, I see two mirelurks had come from the lake and were trying to attack us as well. "Get away from them!" I yelled at the mirelurks when they tried to attack Heather and Dogmeat, who were helping Curie fight the swarmbots and hadn't noticed the mirelurks. I quickly ran and shot the first mirelurk in its face and broke half the legs of the other with a hard kick to them. "I've already lost one person I cared about to this wasteland," I yelled as I shot it in the face, making it rolled back before I turned to the swarmbots. "You'll have to kill me to get them."

One bot tried to hit me, but I shot its head off, making it spiral out of control, and disabled the legs and arms of another, making it go into self-destruct mode, and when it blows up, another shot a rail spike at me, leaving a deep laceration in the arm it hit. "Just screw off already!" I yelled as I shot the rail gun off and take out its other arm before shooting its thruster, leaving it to spiral out of control. I try to go check the bodies for anything, but before I can, the pain from getting shot huts me, making me fall to a knee and grunt in pain. Apparently, I got hit more than I thought, only feeling the big ones, though the small ones added up to a large dose of hurt.

"This is what I get… for running on adrenaline," I grunted before blacking out, hearing Heather trying to get stimpaks from my bag to help.

When I come to, the is rising in the distance, and I notice I'm lying on a bench at the galleria, which I only notice because of the giant statue and Mister Handy's roaming the place. I try to sit up when I feel a weight on my legs and see Heather had laid her head on my legs, making me smile. When I looked at my wounds, I could recognize Heather's handiwork. After pulling her bag closer and getting a bottle of water and drinking it, I spend the next hour just admiring her. For one thing, she clearly had carried me from that lake to here. My weight would make Dogmeat slow down and Curie to hit the ground. So her carrying me surprised me a bit because I was not aware she could lift me, though it shouldn't have been surprising when I took into consideration how much junk, weapons, and armor she could carry, and she had power armor standing nearby with the core taken out. When she woke up, she yawned and stretched, which was not helping me at all. It was a good thing my old man had taught me how to control my hormones, even in the morning so I never had to answer any embarrassing questions. When she looked at me, her eyes went wide before I leaned forward and gave her one of my bear hugs I used to give my siblings, though I made sure not to break or crack any bones when I did.

"Thank you," I told her. "Because of you, I survived another day."

"I like traveling with you," she told me, which was something I did know since she had told me once. "You make it fun to do. Can't do it as much if you die."

"Well because you can bring me back from the grave is one of the reasons I trust no one else to watch my back as much as you. Shall we get ready to head out? It is what we do."

She smiled before laughing at what I said, and I laughed with her. When we finish, she helps me put my armor on, helping make sure it wasn't too tight so my wounds could still breathe. When I looked at the helmet, I notice the jagged line running over the surface, it breaking off into two halfway down. If I hadn't been wearing it I would be red paste on the road right now. Or Super Mutant food. I'm going to give it a name.

"I'm going to give this helmet a name," I told Heather, who looked at me confused. "Only because it is part of the reason I'm still alive. Won't make sense to you, but I'm going to call it Puissance. I don't care how odd it sounds."

After sticking the helmet into my bag, for the time being, I put the bag on and went to find Curie and when I did, threw my arms over the top of her body behind her receptors.

"I've gotta thank you, Curie," I told her. "I doubt I'd be here I'd it weren't for you and Heather."

"Nonsense, monsieur," Curie responded. "Miss Heather did all the work, I just observed."

"And I say nonsense to that," I told her. "You still helped fight those robots and creatures we fought. There's more than one way to be helpful, and you helped in more ways than one. Anyway, once I get Dogmeat, we'll be getting back to traveling-"

"But you must rest to allow your injuries to heal," Curie said. "They could affect how you do in combat."

"Well, we'll do what we can to avoid big fights," I told her. "I don't need to fight anything big until tomorrow while I let the stimpaks used on me do their job. And you can't convince me otherwise, I'm a stubborn piece of crap."

Curie tried to protest, but I got my arms off her and went to find Dogmeat, and ended up seeing him by the gate.

"Hey, bud," I grinned as he jumped when he saw me. "Haven't kicked the bucket yet. You ready to head out?"

When he barked, I got Heather and Curie and we started walking. I decided to head to that little settlement by the river today, so we went east and passed by the plane wreckage where we helped one of my Minutemen take care of some Super Mutants. How did she know this place was cleared out? I just cleared it yesterday. Unfortunately only one of the three mutants had loot worth anything, and it was .38 rounds and a pipe rifle, so that would be sold next chance I got. We continued walking after I put the gun away, and when we were nearing a bend in the road, I could've sworn I heard something like an animal growling, but I didn't see anything when I looked around, so I took Puissance out of my bag and put her on. After making sure she was strapped on, I grabbed my rifle and made sure to be ready for a fight even though I didn't want to. When we reached the two-way turn in the road, I look north and my anger spikes.

"Seriously?" I yelled as it sees us and starts charging. "I'd like one easy day in this area!"

I almost step forward, but Heather holds me back and Curie gets closer to it instead. Apparently, they talked about this probably last night after I blacked out. The deathclaw tries to hit Curie, who manages to avoid each swing and was shooting its face.

"Go for the stomach!" I yell. "They're weak there for some reason!"

While Curie is distracting it, I pull out my shotgun, and after making sure the magazine is full, start to walk to it.

"Now you get to die, cupcake," I taunted, and when it saw me, stopped going for Curie and ran at me. Before it could hit me though, I fired a shell into its blistering face, caused by Curie's laser, and it goes reeling back, and I start to fire shell after shell into its stomach before it falls to the ground.

"Why don't you use the shotgun more often, monsieur?" Curie asked as I skinned the deathclaw for its skin.

"Shells are hard to find and it takes the fun out of a fight," I responded. "Only used it today because I need my wounds to heal."

After skinning it, collecting meat and taking one of its claws, I took my helmet and armor off, and we start walking again before we come to a familiar bend in the road.

"Recognize this spot, Heather?" I asked her with a smile a mile wide. "It's where you and I first met. I gotta say, best decision I made choosing to travel with you."

Heather looked surprised before scratching the back of her head, and I laughed before putting an arm over her shoulders.

"And I'm never going to regret it either," I grinned, and she turned her head forward, for some reason avoiding looking at me. "Well let's get going. Let's get stronger and head to the castle in a few days."

We kept walking and soon approached a town with stone walls surrounding it, which was a bit surprising, and when I approached the gate, a man with gray hair and a leather jacket greeted me.

"You here visiting Covenant, pal? If not move along. You know, armed people loitering around. Not good for the nerves."

That was interesting. Also an interesting name. "Is that what this place is called?"

"Yeah, we're a real up and comer. A pit stop on the road for traders and such. We're not that big, but we got bargains. Got a doc that can patch you up. We even got some lemonade. Well, that's what Deezer calls it anyway. There's a small catch, though. We don't let just anyone inside. There's an entrance test. We call it the SAFE test. Everyone's got to take it."

That's nice and all, but what was the point of it. "Interesting idea. Between you and me, what's the test for?"

"I probably shouldn't say nothing. But listen. We want to make sure only good people come into Covenant. No undesirables. Nobody that ain't exactly what they seem, you know?"

No, I don't. Assassins and murderers could look like everyone else, but so could thieves and swindlers. "I'm new to the area. What do you mean about 'undesirables'?"

"You don't know about…? Jesus. Listen, not everyone in the Commonwealth is human, OK? Some are… Synths. I'm not going to say anything more than that. Just take the test. You pass and you can come inside where everything's safe. All right?"

"I guess," I responded since I doubted a verbal test could help tell the difference between human and machine.

"Take a seat and we can begin." He led me to a desk with a chair in front of it, and I set my bag down by it before sitting. "So let's begin. There ain't no wrong answers. You are approached by a frenzied scientist, who yells, 'I'm going to put my quantum harmonizer in your photonic resonation chamber!' What's your response?"

I'd ignore him and try to get away. "I'd slip away before he finishes his rant."

"While he's speaking," the guy muttered after I answered. "Next question… While working as an intern in the Clinic, a patient with a strange infection on his foot stumble through the door. The infection is spreading at an alarming rate, but the doctor has stepped out for a while. What do you do?"

"Amputate it before the infection spreads," I answered. I didn't know much about healing, and I have no idea why I would be working at a clinic, but I almost had to amputate my leg when it got infected once, though we were able to save it, which was obvious since I still had both legs.

"Hmm… Amputation… Next question. You discover a lost boy in a cave. He's hungry and frightened but also appears to be in possession of stolen property. What do you do?"

Well, this question was definitely familiar. But while I had answered it once, my answer had changed since we had been traveling, so I looked at him and answered. "I give the boy a hug and tell him everything will be okay."

"Very… curious. Congratulations! You made it onto a baseball team! Which position do you prefer?"

Well, that was easy. I used to play baseball occasionally with friends when I was in primary school.

"Pitcher," I answered simply.

"Are you certain about that?" he questioned before saying "Nevermind, next question. Your grandmother invites you to tea, but you're surprised when she gives you a pistol and orders you to kill someone. What do you do?"

That was both an odd and probably highly unnecessary question. My grandmother was too sweet to want anyone dead before she passed away, and she never hated or disliked anyone. "I'd give her whatever she wants to spare his life," I told him, knowing even if my grandmother wanted someone dead, which was unlikely, she always did what I asked her, considering I had been her favorite, which my siblings had always been jealous of.

"Hmm… Typical Class B…" the man said though this made me question his sanity. What the heck was a Class B? "Old Mr. Abernathy has locked himself in his quarters again, and you've been ordered to get him out. How do you proceed?"

Blake? I don't think the guy would ever be dumb enough to lock himself in a room he couldn't get out of, and if he did, he would make sure someone has a key for it. "I'd grab a bobby pin and pick the lock."

"And that's all you'd do? Nothing else? What, don't answer. Next." Odd. I thought he said there were no wrong answers, so why was he questioning them. "Oh, o! You've been exposed to radiation and a mutated hand has grown out of your stomach! What's the best course of treatment?"

I guess it a good thing I liked tinkering with machinery in my spare time. "I'd cut off the mutated tissue with a precision laser."

"Technological bias… Hmm…" Quit questioning my answer, hypocrite. Never mind, that was me. "A neighbor is in possession of a Grognak the Barbarian comic book issue number 1. You want it. What's the best way to obtain it?"

"I'd trade him for one of the comic books I own," I answered, since I have some I don't even read.

"Hmm. You're almost done. Last question. You decide it would be fun to play a prank on your father. You enter his private restroom when no one is looking, and…"

I'm not even going to point out what was wrong with that. Why would someone prank their dad? I wouldn't because he used the same bathroom as us once my brother and I turned fifteen. "I'd loosen the bolts on his water pipes. When he turns on the sink, he'll be in for a surprise," I answered since that was something I could've cleaned up.

"Test's over. No one's answer quite like you. But hey, you passed. I'll open up the gate."

After I grabbed my bag and followed the man to the gate, he opened it, and I was hit with a blast from the past.


	15. Chapter 14: Human Error and Zone 2

When I walked into Covenant, after taking out my glasses and putting them on, the first thing that I noticed was how pristine everything looked as if the bombs had never dropped, the only indication they had was the clothing one of them was wearing. It seemed like a nice town, though something was off. If the place was like this before the bombs fell, I could see the people being this nice, but this wasn't natural two-hundred-years later. I was about to walk into what looked like a store when a man with a blue shirt and leather armor approached me.

"Hello," I cautiously said. "Can I help you?"

"You from around here? God, I hope not. I've had enough of these hicks."

No, but that was odd that he seemed troubled by something. "You have a problem with the people here?"

"All the fake smiles and the fancy talking puts me on edge. Sooner I'm out of here, the better. You know anything about Stockton's Caravan?" the man asked, which I could not say yes to without lying.

"No, can't say that I do," I answered before scratching the back of my head. Were normal mosquitoes still a thing?

"I just can't catch a break," the man sighed before continuing. "I signed on with Old Man Stockton to find his lost caravan. What's left is just outside of town. Their last stop was here, so I've been trying to put together the story. But I keep getting the run-around." The man thought about something for a minute before saying, "I got a proposal for you. Help me find Stockton's people and we split the reward. At least one survivor walked out of that massacre. And I intend to make good on my contract."

"I need to know who we're looking for," I responded. "Can't help if I don't know all the details."

"The big one is Stockton's daughter, Amelia. I didn't find any bodies of the feminine persuasion. So, uh, there's hope. If we find her, Stockton's offering a heap of caps."

That was interesting. If Stockton's daughter was a part of it, and this guy didn't find her body, then there shouldn't be any reason these people didn't at least have an idea of what happened.

"Sounds fair. I'm in," I told him, hoping it wasn't too late to save the girl.

"Here's all I got on the caravan," the man said as he handed me some details on the caravan, which I pocketed away for the time being. "I don't got proof, but Covenant's involved. Somehow. I'll keep poking around. But let me know if you find anything."

When he walks away, I walk into the store and walk up to the woman behind the counter, noticing how clean her dress is.

"I hope Swanson didn't give you too hard a time at the gate. If you ask me, I think he takes his job too seriously." Is that the gatekeeper's name? That would've been nice of him to say before learning it from this woman. "But welcome! Everyone around here calls me Mrs. Fitzgerald. But you, cutey, can call me Penny."

"Please don't call me that," I muttered. "I don't like nicknames from people I barely know, and you're also awfully chipper." There is no way her attitude was this way naturally. She lives in a small settlement, so most likely someone from a place like this would still act like any other settler regardless of protection.

"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed, Mr. Grumpy Pants. You here to shop? I'll make sure to give you a good price."

I did not wake up on the wrong side of a bed, I woke up on a bench. And even then, she was way too cheerful for someone who had grown up in the Commonwealth. "I'll take a look."

"Best deals around," she said as she started showing me what she had. I only bought a few things from her, a combat helmet called the 'Destroyers' helmet, a shotgun called Justice, and a few pieces of metal armor and shotgun shells. The only reason I had enough caps was because of the ammunition I didn't need, a lot of leather armor that was useless, and some guns and grenades I didn't need. It was surprising that Curie had grenades in the suitcase, mainly because I don't recall grenades being in it, but figured that it probably happened while I was passed out.

"Enjoy your stay," Penny said in a tone that would get annoying real quick as I put the stuff away.

"Do you have time for a few questions," I asked her before I walked out.

"For you, certainly," Penny answered, and that made me uncomfortable.

"Do you know anything about a missing caravan?" I asked her, getting straight to the point.

"You've been talking to Mr. Dan. I don't know what he's carrying on about. He's just stirring the pot if you ask me."

So she liked to gossip. That made this easier since I used to run this rodeo with my sister when she started middle school.

"Definitely. He has such an attitude," I responded, buttering her up.

"I know! He's so smug. And Dan thinks he's the one helping people. He wouldn't know the first thing about making the Commonwealth a better, safer place."

Well, neither do you guys, you probably spend all your time behind the walls, and even then they won't protect you from everything. But screw it, I would have to suck up my pride.

"He should be thankful you let him in," I told her with a fake smile.

"Instead, he stomps around interrogating people. If the Compound did do something to his precious caravan, they had reasons for it. Better reasons than a man like him… Hmm…" That was interesting. So there was a Compound involved. "You know what, honey, I… I was just shooting off at the mouth. Just forget anything I said about that. And…. and the Compound. I have to go."

"I'm not going to forget about that, dearie," I whispered to her before walking out of the store. "Thanks for the info."

When I was leaving the store before I walked out I discreetly slipped some keys that were on a table into my pocket, then I looked for someone else to talk to and noticed a woman that looked jumpy and frantic for some reason, which I could use, and I walked up to her and cleared my throat to get her attention.

"Oh, I heard about you. You're the stranger." Well, that's a nice thing to be called, even if it was true.

"Do you have time for some questions?" I asked her.

"If it'll help, sure."

"Does Covenant have some sort of problem with synths?" I questioned, curious about why they would kidnap anyone.

She jumped before saying, "Synths? I mean, no. The test makes sure none of… those. Get in here. They promised."

Time to put my bad lying skills to the test. "Swanson told me the test isn't perfect. And Dan is acting real… suspicious."

"You think Dan is one of them? He has been asking a lot of questions about the caravan."

No, but if it gets her to talk, I'll say that.

"Dan all but told me he's working for the Institute. I don't want him to hurt you or your friends." Now that was more of a half-truth. He never said anything about the Institute, but I didn't want to hurt them if they were innocent of anything, which from what I had gathered, it wasn't looking good for them.

"Oh my god, oh my god. If he finds out about the survivors and the Compound then everything could be ruined. I have to go tell someone."

Well, that all but confirms they know what happened, but I wasn't too sure of what survivors they could be talking about. Sure, it was the only thing I knew about, but there could be survivors from other things I didn't know of. So I told Heather, Curie, and Dogmeat to stay in Covenant while I went to check out the caravan. I searched the bodies by the caravan for anything, and when I didn't find anything, I noticed a cooler and opened it.

"Deezer's Lemonade," I read of the bottle before a noticeable growl came out of my mouth. And that is why I had them stay in Covenant. I crushed the bottle in my hand and threw it to the side and almost walked back to the place before seeing blood on the ground leading to Covenant.

"Of course they involved innocent people," I growled in anger, it reaching a second height since waking up, the only other time being anywhere near this pissed being when that deathclaw I first killed tried to kill Dogmeat. When I reached Covenant, I put a fake smile on my face and entered, walking to the side of the house to the left of the entrance. When I was sure no one was looking, I quietly took out the key and used it to unlock the door, grateful it actually unlocked. I quietly closed it behind me, and when I looked around, found a paper that had what I could assume was a password for a terminal. I folded it up and put it in my pocket and snuck back out the door and went to find Dan and found him by a Mr. Handy missing its plating.

"Hey, Dan," I said as I approached him.

"This whole place has got me on edge. I hope you found something on the caravan."

"I found out about a Compound. The caravan survivors may be there," I revealed to him.

"Great, now we just need to find it. If anyone would know where this compound is it'd be Jacob. He runs this town. But he doesn't have the best memory. I saw him once reading a slip of paper while entering his password. Maybe you can find that?"

"I've actually got it already," I told him with a grin as I showed him the folded paper. "I'll talk later once I've found out more."

I left Dan waiting and went into the building that wasn't a store or bunkhouse and had a terminal in it, and after making sure no one could see me and closed the door, I entered the password and started looking into the files. There was nothing about a compound in the files on the people in the town, but when I read a fisherman report draft, discovered it was in a pipe on the other side of the river, which was perfect for me. After logging back out and leaving the place, I walked up to Dan.

"You find anything about the caravan?" he asked as I approached him.

"The compound is in the sewer pipes on the other side of the river," I whispered into his ear, making sure no one else could hear us so they knew we were going there.

"That's what I like to hear. We're in business. I'll meet you there, and we'll rescue ourselves some caravan hands."

Dan headed to the compound, and after grabbing Heather, Curie, and Dogmeat, I started heading there before being stopped by Jacob at the gate.

"Heya, stranger. It's no secret you've been poking around. Not very neighborly of you if you ask me." What did this guy know about neighborly? He kidnapped and lied about caravan hands. It didn't matter the cause, there was no way to justify that. "I know you think you're doing the right thing. Just don't make any decisions you'll regret."

"I know you and your secret Compound are behind what happened to Stockton's caravan," I revealed to him with my arms crossed, a glare evident on my face.

"Supposing, hypothetically, we are. We wouldn't do anything unless we had good reasons. The best. Tell you what, you just stop this investigation and I'll give you a gift. One hundred caps. And then you'd be welcome back here as our friend any time."

Yeah right. Everyone thought they had the best intentions in mind. But kidnapping people wasn't the way to go about things. That was highly unethical and immoral. These guys may have good intentions, but they were definitely going about it the wrong way.

"Surely, there's room for compromise? I get Stockton's survivors and we stay… friends," I say forcing the last word out of my mouth. "I'd have to know more though."

"That's a tall order. A deal like that, well, that's above my pay grade. Tell you what. I'll let the Compound know you're coming. Then you can make your case to them. Good luck."

When I walked out the gate after that conversation to the others who were waiting by the river, I slammed the doors to Covenant shut by mistake and managed to slam one of them off its hinges, which normally would've made me cringe in embarrassment, but I was honestly too pissed to care. I walked out to the river and after putting my armor and Puissance on, I started to swim across the river, ignoring the radiation of it and soon get to the sewer and go into the center gate. When I go into it, Dan and I wait a few minutes before Heather, Curie, and Dogmeat come in, and as we walk, Dan says he'll follow my lead, and soon run into three people with a turret behind them.

"Just because Jacob vouched for you doesn't mean you can enter the compound. Why should I let you in?" the man asked as he pointed a gun at me.

"Take me to the person who's in charge here," I demanded. "I really don't want to kill anyone today and hope we can come to an arrangement."

"We'll see," the man said, squinting his eyes at me "I'll take you to Doctor Chambers. She can decide what to do with you."

We start following the man, and at one point he stops to talk to a man that was torturing someone and made it clear he was an immoral sadist, one of my least favorite types because they attacked people who didn't do anything to deserve it.

"Torture? They're sick. Just give me the signal," Dan said behind me, and I gestured for him to be on his guard in case we had to start fighting for our lives and I pulled my rifle out just in case. As we walk through the place, I study the layout of it so I can see where the best places to get into cover and fire are for a firefight. After a man extends a platform and walking through a series of stairs and walking around some guards, we finally meet the woman behind this and another in a cage, making my blood boil, my hands clenching my gun, veins popping from my arms.

"So the one investigating Stockton's caravan has arrived. Do you even know that his supposed daughter is in all likelihood a synth?" the woman said.

"I'd prefer to resolve this as peacefully as possible," I told her. Luckily most of my wounds had healed, but I didn't want to get into another fight so that they wouldn't reopen and take longer to heal.

"As would I," she says in a condescending tone, which annoys me since a bully had used that tone a lot with my sister in school. "Let me pose a question to you. What would you do if your family was destroyed by a synth, right in front of you when you were but a child? Would you roll over and accept it? Or would you do something about it?"

"I'm in that state right now, you piece of merde," I growled, making the old lady and man take a step back, visibly shook by my actions. "But unlike you, I haven't resorted to torturing innocent people."

"Casualties are inevitable. It may not look like it but we're at war. As long as the Institute walks invisibly amongst us, they strike without warning and control us from the shadows. I've dedicated my life to devising a test to detect these hidden synths. To root them out, so they can be extinguished. Isn't that a goal worth fighting for?"

"I highly doubt all synths are bad, you racist bigot," I responded, my patience starting to wear thin.

"They most certainly are. But we have to find them first. A living synth is indistinguishable from a human by any medical test yet devised. But, it turns out, psychology can detect a difference. Enter the SAFE test. The test is in its infancy, but through sacrifice and perseverance our success rate is improving."

"Your methods are putain de barbaric. You're torturing innocent people."

"To improve the SAFE test intense psychological pressure must be applied to our test subjects. It is distasteful but necessary. Covenant is many things. A refuge for the broken people left in the wake of the Institute's rampages. A place of safety and healing. But most importantly, it is our one chance to end this age of paranoia. I will make you a deal. If you let me dispose of Stockton's synth and continue our work, I'll match whatever you were offered."

"I've had my fill of crazy on this contract. No deal," Dan responded, clearly ticked at the woman.

"Fortunate for me, I wasn't talking to you."

"You side with this nut job, and we're going to have a serious, deadly, problem," Dan threatened, which didn't bother me because there was no way I was going to let them kill someone who had a fifty-fifty chance of being a human or synth.

"Spare the girl, or we're going to have problems," I barked at the doctor, making her step back and the man raise his gun.

"I… Impossible," the woman stuttered. "The odds are too great she's an Institute infiltrator. Even if she is an unfortunate victim in this war, sparing her can compromise everything."

"Well, I guess that's unfortunate for you," I glared as I raised my rifle. "Because I'm not letting you kill her."

The doctor tried to pull a gun out, but I pulled the trigger before she could, sending a bullet into her head, and before the man could react, I did the same to him, blowing his head off.

"You guys stay here and protect the girl," I commanded to everyone. "I've got some pent up anger to get rid of."

They all looked like they wanted to argue, but before they could say anything, I stomped away, and the first person that tried to shoot me from around the corner lost his hand, and the next lost his head. I quickly ran around the corner, and bashed the stock of my rifle into the face of the first man, before turning and shooting the head of a third. I walk forward before ducking behind a pipe as two men start shooting at me and wait for them to stop firing. Right as I here the magazines of their guns eject, I turn around and quickly fire a shot into the nearest one, before turning and aiming at the further one and shooting him in the chest, firing three times and sending six bullets into him.

"Baiseurs," I mutter as I stomp across the platform, and feel a bullet hit the side of my helmet and see a man had opened a door that was previously closed, and he visibly shakes, somehow feeling my glare from behind my helmet. "This is karma, you sadistic merdes," I growl as I fire twice into his chest, and he falls to the ground, eyes rolling out the back of his head. I hear another man coming to the door, and I walk through it, and before he can fire, I slam my rifle into his face, knocking his head off his body, and fire three times into a turret peeking behind a wall, blowing it up. I march back the way I came and soon get to the room a man named Blythe was in, and when the guard opened the door, I shot him in the face, and when Blythe sees, he's frozen, unable to do anything as I march up to him and grab him by the skull.

"You messed with the wrong people, cupcake," I snarled before slamming his head into the ground, and when I see he's still breathing, slam it into the floor more until his face is completely broken, unrecognizable from the male he was before. After wiping the blood on my hands off with a rag, I march back out to the entrance and fire three rounds into the turret, blowing it up, and the two guards standing there start to fire, though it's ineffective as it bounces off my chest.

"You need heavier guns," I sneered, not something I did often, put my gun away, and stepped up to the nearest one. He tried to bash me with his gun, but I grab his gun hand before he hits, and slowly move it away before using my free hand to grab him by the throat and lift him into the air, forcing him to drop his gun as he grabs my arm. It's fruitless though as I proceed to slam him into the other guard who's trying, and failing, to shoot my back. They're both lying on the ground, disoriented from the slam, and I walk up to them before pulling my pistol out and shoot them both in the face, sending them to join their friends.

"It's unfortunate," I say as I walk back to the group and Dan. "Would've been nice if they let the girl go."

When I get back to the room, I walk up to the cell the woman is in, and she begs me to let her out, which I was doing, and tells me about the terminal, but I ignore it and grab the bars, and pull them to make a large enough hole for her to step through, making Dan and the woman take a step back from me, and Heather visibly gasped in surprise.

"It was nice working with you," I told Dan after released the bar. "Now if you excuse me, there's a little place called Covenant that I wish I could leave alive, but they'll continue to do this if left alone."

"Likewise, Glad you were on my side. Here's your cut of the reward. I'll get my half from Stockton. Been a pleasure," Dan said as he turned to escort Amelia to her father.

As we leave the place, I grab the fusion core powering the generator down there, and after collecting the armor and clothing off the bodies, and a combat rifle off one guy, exit the sewer. Before crossing the river again, I pull out Overseers and aim across the river, aiming for one of Covenant's turrets. After shooting it three times, I turn the gun to another and fire three times to get rid of it.

"Let's go," I growl as I start my swim across. When I get to the other side of the shore, some of the people have come out and look ready for a fight, but when they see me calmly walking out of the water, they're all visibly scared, a few taking a step back, two dropped their guns, and Jacob was shaking in his shoes.

"I guess there wasn't a room for compromise," I snarled before charging. A few regain their senses and try to fire, but before they can, I grab Swanson by his throat.

"You wouldn't kill your own man, would you?" I question them as I hold him in front of me. After putting one hand under his chin and the other on the top of his head, I twist it violently, dropping him to the ground. "But karma's a chienne, ain't she?"

They start to fire again, and some bullets hit my armor, but I pull my pistol out and fire a round into Jacob's head, his head blowing off his body, leaving jagged skin where his head used to connect to his neck. I start to fire round after round into each of them, some bullets hitting me, a few even grazing my arms and legs, but not causing anything life-threatening.

"You're no better than raiders!" I yell at them as I shoot them. "Torturing innocent people! How do you justify that for your zut paranoia?" The last person to go down is a man in a leather coat, Penny's husband Brian if I recall correctly.

"I didn't want it to come to this," I say before falling to my knees, my anger fading being replaced by a new emotion, grief. I took off my helmet as I stared into the sky before yelling, the rain hitting my face as I do so, blending the tears in my eyes from any passerby, though at this point I didn't care.

When I stopped yelling, my head hung low, my hands over the back of my head as I kept anyone from seeing my face. I don't know when, but at one point Heather had come with Curie and Dogmeat and took out the rest of the turrets to Covenant, my mind being too numb to register it. When they had destroyed all the turrets, Heather had gotten out of her power armor and slowly dragged me to a bed in Covenant, getting me out of the rain and stripping me of my armor, making sure I slept. That was the first night I had nightmares since coming into this world, the faces of the former settlers of this place not leaving my head. Normally when I killed raiders, I didn't have a name for them or knew anything, which made it easier to take them out. But I had read the reports on the people, I had talked to a three of them, and that made it harder. Because I couldn't write them off as being normal raiders since they had a reason for doing what they did. It was only because of the way they went about achieving their goal I did what I did.

When I got up that morning, even if it was the time I normally got up, I had to drag myself out of the bed. When I walked out to the entrance of the place my feet were dragging on the ground, my head hung low. I stood by the river like this for some time, and Heather had to remind me to put my armor before we continued traveling. I was going to need to put this place behind me and do what I could to forget about it. After passing by a memorial bridge and marking it on the map, we headed north and came upon a boathouse. Heather and Curie take care of some bloodbugs in the place, shooting them after I grabbed them by their bodies and holding them in place.

"Stop struggling," I muttered as I dodge the stinger of what looked like the mother before grabbing her. "It'll end faster."

When the bugs are taken care of, I find a functioning workbench, and we start to scrap the parts here. I was going to have to make a machine to go between here and Zimonja when I could. When we started walking again after getting rid of everything and collecting a laser rifle from a trap that had been set up in a boathouse, I remembered a nearby neighborhood that was here before the war, and we went off the road and headed east, running into more bloodbugs by a sewer that were quickly taken care of. We continue walking, and this time when we get into the neighborhood, I notice Super Mutants there and quickly snap out of it and get ready to fight, leaving my guns in my bag and getting ready to use my hands.

"Super Mutants," I inform Heather as I put on Puissance. "Don't know how many, don't care. Let's just clear them out."

I quickly jump over a fence, and a mutant yells when he sees me, alerting the others of my presence.

"Oh shut up, greenie," I barked as I charged, dodging bullet-fire from his gun, staying in front of him so the turret behind him doesn't shoot. When I'm right in front of him, I kick his stomach, and when he hunches over, send a powerful high kick to his chin, knocking him back into the turret. Before he recovered, I grabbed him by the head as I got behind the turret and slammed it into the plating multiple times before he succumbed to his injuries, blood spilling over the sides of no destroyed turret. I felt something hit my back multiple times, and when I turn around, see a mutant firing a laser rifle at me.

"Just stop trying!" I roared as I bobbed and weaved to get to him, avoiding most of the lasers with a few hitting my shoulders and helmet. I kicked him in the knee when I got close, breaking it in the process, and when he roared in pain and anger, I struck his mouth shut with a palm strike, making him bite his tongue off and drop his gun before he tried to hit me again. I ducked carelessly under his arms and jumped up before bringing my elbow onto his head, making him fall to the ground. When he stood back up, I sent a kick to his groin area, making him clutch over holding himself, and I grab him by the back of the head and slam his head into my knee, breaking his nose and sending the bone into his brain, sending him falling to the ground. When I turn around, I hear an explosion go off, I get annoyed.

"Why does one have a missile launcher?" I grunt as another comes at me, trying to hit me with a board. He actually manages to hit, though it breaks over my head, and he's visibly confused by it for a minute, and I use it to grab a large piece of the splintered wood and stabbed it into his neck, making him stagger back as he grabs his throat, struggling for air.

"That's what you get, dearie," I remarked as I started running to the one with a missile launcher. When he notices me coming, he fires a missile at me, making me narrowly avoid it as I slide under it, causing it to fly past and explode behind. Luckily the force of the explosion pushed me further, and right as I slid up to the missile launcher one, planted my hands on the ground and kicked my legs up before forcing my legs into the stomach of the mutant, making him drop the launcher. He grabs my legs and holds him there, which works to my advantage as I sit up and grab the sides of his head and start squeezing, him roaring in pain and anger as he tries to break my legs. After a minute of him trying. He relents and falls to the ground, his skull broken, brain crushed.

"Come on, you pansies!" I yell at the other mutants who seem visibly shaken by what I did as Heather and Curie catch up, and I gesture to the now dead mutant. "Surely your not like this snowflake!"

I'm the distraction and defense, Heather and Curie were the attackers, though Curie was more of a medic than a soldier.

"Now don't disappoint," I mutter as I run at them. They start firing, my armor absorbing the bullets and lasers they shoot, and Heather and Curie firing at the mutants. I swept the legs of one of them and sent a hammerfist into the chest of another, knocking him to the ground as well. When they tried to get up, I jumped and kicked one in the head while striking the other with an elbow to his face.

"You guys are too easy!" I yelled as I stomped the head of the one I head just elbowed before I pulled out my knife and stabbed the other one. "Come on, you ninnies! At least put up a good fight!"

When I looked for another, Heather and Curie were shooting one that was hiding behind a wall in a house, so I ran in and he tried to shoot me with a pipe gun.

"Too weak," I said as I ran up and hit him in the jaw, making him lurch back. I then used his temporary moment of shock to kick him in the groin area, and forced him to drop his gun, and when he hunched over to hold his stomach, I got behind him and wrapped my arms around him, and started to push him, my feet digging into the tile of the floor of the house.

"Die, stupid human!" them mutant yelled as he hit my back.

"No, I enjoy living too much," I responded. "But you enjoy killing. I may not be the most sane person, but compared to you lot, I am." He continued to struggle as I pushed, his head hitting the door frame as I got him out of the house. As soon as I knew I was on dirt, I released him and kicked him in the knee, making him stagger back as Heather and Curie shot him, turning him to ash. After we searched the area for loot, we continued walking.

"Is everything alright Mason?" Curie asked as we were approaching an energy turbine.

"Why? What's wrong?" I questioned as I took my helmet off, shocking them with the tone of my voice.

"You have very confusing emotions," Curie admitted "When you woke up, you sad. Then we fought those monsters, and you were angry, and now you seem fine."

I thought about it for a minute before we stopped walking, and I sat Puissance on the ground and poked both sides of my head.

"Let's put it this way: I. Can't. Control. My. Emotions." I said poking myself at each syllable. Now I had a headache. I picked Puissance back up and put her on, and said, "Remind me not to do that again. My head hurts now."

When I see the entrance, I see two radroaches, a glowing one on the steps and a normal one on the floor. I quickly run and stomp on the glowing one, and when the normal jumps, I kick it away, it dying when it hits the rail.

"Looks like we have an insect problem here," I told Heather as she approached and a bloatfly flew from around the corner of the room. It shot a larva at Heather, and despite knowing she's wearing power armor, I reach out and catch it before it hits her, stopping it from reaching its target before throwing it back at the fly, piercing its body and sending it falling to the ground.

"How you like that, chienne," I mutter as another one comes, and this time before it shoots a larva, I run and grab it by the body, and used one hand to hold the larva in place as I hold it in front of me for Heather to shoot, turning it to ash with her rifle.

"That could've gone worse," I muttered as I climbed down the platform leading to another room that's separated by a part that fell into the water. I have Heather stay on this side before jumping to the other side, making sure neither of us gets radiation poisoning from swimming in this water. "And there's two radroaches," I complain as I enter the room. "Oh well, could've been bloatflies."

After killing them and getting the meat off them, I collect some ammunition and a combat rifle from a chest in the room and find a lockpicking book on a shelf that made it easier to find the sweet spot when picking a lock. While that was nice and all, I preferred hacking a terminal over picking a lock.

"You guys ready," I say as I get back to everyone else before two mirelurk hunters pop out of the ground. "Never mind! Dogmeat, stay back!"

The closest one tries to hit me with its claws, and when I roll out of its way, it spits acid that lands on my chest, eroding the armor as it slides down it.

"Well, screw you too, chienne!" I yell as I kicked its face, making it reel back before I stomped on one of its legs, keeping it from running.

"Now you can't run," I mutter as I took my knife and wait for it, and when it gets too close, I kick it onto its back and thrust the knife between a weak spot on its stomach, burying the blade in the insides of it. It screeches in pain, thrashing, trying to get me to take the knife out, but it proves fruitless as the claws and legs go limp, no longer moving.

"Now are you guys ready?" I ask as I see Heather and Curie had taken care of the other one, Dogmeat having listened and stayed out of the fight while we took care of the giant crustaceans. After they confirmed they were ready, we headed east to the shipyard we passed when we were coming here. Before we walked off the road, I heard the sounds of wings fluttering and pulled out my knife. I cautiously walked around a shack that was by the road, and when I looked into it, was relieved there was only one bloodbug in it. It flew at me, and when it tried to sting me and suck my blood, I sent the knife into its head, stopping it effectively.

"That was nice," I said as I pulled my knife out, then saw further down a building in front of the shack, there was another bloodbug on the other side of it. "And now there's another."

I threw caution to the wind with this one as I gripped my knife and after getting close enough, broke into a sprint and jammed the knife into its back, pinning it to the ground as I stomped on its head. "Man, these are annoying," I complained as I pulled my knife out. "Hey, Heather. Do you need any repairs done to your power armor?" I asked her, recalling the power armor station I had run past.

"Nope," she smiled.

Curie, is the functionality of your systems optimal?" I asked her with a bit of concern. There were most likely more bloodbugs in the main building of the place, probably worse, and I had no repair kits, so if she fell or needed repairs, I would have to hope to find a workbench to repair her.

"Yes, monsieur," she responded, making me gush at her accent.

"Please stop, the accent is too adorable!" I complimented out loud before I realized what I said. Heather and Curie looked at me in surprise, Dogmeat barked, and I stared at them before continuing. "Moving on, let's head inside." We walked to the door of the main building and entered the place.


	16. Chapter 15: Zone 2 Part 3

After closing the door behind and searching the room we were in, we started to search for anything out of place. It was odd how quiet the place was, especially since I couldn't hear the wings of a bloodbug even though they had been right outside. After making sure my armor was strapped in place, I pulled out my blade and got ready for a fight as we carefully searched the place. There wasn't anything in any of the lockers or containers besides some ammunition, which was always a bonus, and a dress, which I, fortunately, didn't comment on when I put it away. I almost walk into the main room where the dock is when I heard the sound of clittering going by the door, and when I looked out, saw a mirelurk looking right back at me.

"Uh, hi," I said before it tried to attack me, making me jump back before it did. It tried to hit me with its other claw before I ducked under it and sent a fist into its head, sending it reeling. I readied my knife, and before it got the chance to recover, thrust the blade into one of its eyes, sending the blade hilt deep into its head, piercing the brain as it fell. I didn't have time to enjoy that small victory though as I felt something coming from behind and rolled away as an acid-spitting mirelurk hunter went by.

"Heather, I need help!" I yelled as I blocked one of its claws, making me stagger to the side. "Oh, screw you, piece of merde!" I yelled as I kicked up, breaking off one of its two mouthpieces, making it screech in pain. I didn't give it a chance to recover as I got a stupid idea and grabbed it by the back of its shell, pulling myself onto its back and felt as it tried to hit and buck me off, Heather and Curie shooting it and Dogmeat trying to bite its leg to hold it down.

"That's one way to distract it," I commented when it fell to the ground as it died. "Better than holding it from the front and getting hit by lasers."

"That was very reckless, monsieur," Curie scolded me, which hurt for some reason.

"Well, I know what it's like to get hit by a laser rifle. I figured it was better to distract it by getting on its back." Heather about says something when I hear earth go up and fall behind us. "We got company," I warned as I turned around and ran to the dock. I looked over the railing and saw a mirelurk coming, so I ran back to the corpse of the first mirelurk and pulled my knife out of its head before running back and jumping over the railing, landing on top of the shell of the mirelurk I had seen coming, and before it realized I was there, stabbed the knife into its eye, which was hard to hit on the first try. I heard a loud _BOOM_ and when I saw what had made the noise, Heather had jumped and landed in front of me. Guess that was one of the points of power armor though.

"Took care of this one," I stated as I hopped off the shell. "It was fun."

Before she said anything, I got beside her and hit a mirelurk that was trying to attack her from behind, sending it back a few crawls.

"Don't attack from behind, you pantywaist," I grinned as I dropped to the ground and kicked up, sending it onto its back, making it look like a turtle on its back, just with claws instead of legs, making me laugh.

"That's hilarious!" I boomed out before feeling something hit my leg and saw a hatchling hitting me. "Ask before you hit," I muttered as I stomped onto it. "Or be a hypocrite and say that and hit without asking anyways." I quickly run back to the previous carcass and pull the knife out before stabbing it into the back of a hatchling coming at me from the front.

"Definitely plenty to go around!" I informed the others as three mirelurks, one of them a hunter, and their hatchlings came from the rear of the ship.

"Well now," I said as they crawled as fast as they could, which was pretty fast, before getting ready to throw my knife. "This is hardly a fair fight. Let's even the odds." When they were at a pretty decent distance, I reached the knife behind before launching it forward, the knife sinking deep into the eye of the mirelurk hunter, making it screech in pain, now leaving me weaponless. I almost get ready to fight when I see a heavy sedge hammer leaning against one of the walls, choosing to use that instead of my hands. I grab it with one hand, and right as one of the mirelurks is upon me, I swing up with all my strength, sending it flying into its green friend. Heather started firing at the mirelurks, and Curie shot the hatchlings, and Dogmeat had bitten onto the legs of the hunter, holding it in place. I grinned as I came up to the hunter, before bringing the hammer around and onto the side of its head, cracking the shell and slamming it into the side of the boat.

"This is why I'm not given sledgehammers in fights!" I thundered. "It makes the fight too one-sided!" It screeched and tried to hit me, but I ducked under it, dragging the hammer on the ground, before gripping the handle of it and slamming one of the faces of it into the head of the hunter, making it fall back as I hit upwards. I broke a good bit of the handle off when it fell and turned to see a black mirelurk was about to attack her from behind. I gritted my teeth and gripped what was left of the handle before bringing it forward and launching it, sending it in an almost straight line at the face of the mirelurk, making it fall back. "Don't attack someone I consider family! Otherwise, I'm going to need a shovel for your corpse!"

I pulled my knife from the hunter Dogmeat and I had killed, before running and grabbing the hammer by the small handle. The mirelurk got up and snapped his claws, both missing completely, and I used my knife and stabbed into the eye of it, and when it reeled back, I brought the hammer up and slammed it into the handle of the knife, pushing the blade deeper into its head, making it screech more before falling, faint red smoke coming off its body. Looking at the body, I realized it wasn't black, but more of a dark gray that was easy to believe was black from afar in this lighting.

I dropped the hammer and after managing to get my knife out of the head, I turned to Heather.

"You alright?" I questioned as I noticed a piece of the power armor had fallen to pieces, leaving me to put them into my bag to put together later.

"If you consider me family, do you see me as a sister then?" she asked, teasing me about the comment I made.

"Nope. Just that I'll die before letting you go to wherever you go after death. It's also rather hard for me to say that. Preston, Codsworth, and Dogmeat fall under the category, but Preston's closer to a brother like figure, Dogmeat is my pet, and Codsworth, well, you know why he's family." I then grinned before patting the top of her head. "Besides, if you knew what went through my head, it'd be weird for me to see you as a sister."

After collecting the meat of the mirelurks and stuffing it into a cooler we found and strapping it to one of Curie's bags, I ended up searching the boat and finding a magazine for a tattoo at the top.

"I found another magazine!" I informed them as I came off the ship. "It's unfortunate it's for a tattoo, but better than nothing."

"Sweet," Heather commented. "Those are rare."

"I guess. Not useful, unless you want a radioactive skull tattooed onto your forehead." After sticking the magazine into my bag, I grabbed my helmet and turned to Heather. "There's a training yard not too far from here. Not sure what's there, but there may be a cache of ammunition, weapons, and or armor. Either way, something good."

"The training yard? Its infested with ferals. Should be easy pickings."

"Excellent. Remember to take out their legs," I told her, before turning to Curie. "Only shoot your laser if we need fire support. Otherwise, please don't engage in combat. Don't have any repair kits, it completely slipped my mind when we were in Sanctuary."

"Is now a good time?" Curie asked, surprising me. I didn't realize she had tried to say something before.

"Later," I told her. "We need to get back on the road. Daylight is limited, and hopefully, we'll find a place to rest for the night."

"But of course," she said as I turned to Dogmeat.

"Let's get going bud," I said as I pet the side of his head before standing and putting Puissance on. When we walked out, I turned the radio on and cheered the others up by dancing horribly as we walked, making Curie and Heather laugh. After walking for a while, we found a farm of sorts and approached some people working in the field. When I walked up to one of them, I cleared my throat.

"We could use your help," the woman working here said.

I guess they had heard of me, though how they knew I'd be in the area is a different question.

"I'd be glad to help. What seems to be the problem?"

"We got a nest of some nasty bugs around the corner in an old boathouse. If they don't get cleaned out soon, we're going to have a real problem. What's really too bad is it'd be a nice spot for a new settlement. In fact, I know some folks that'd love to set up there if it was safe. If you can make sure the old workshop there is still in one piece, anyone who decides to move in later will be able to rebuild."

"What's the name of the place?" I questioned, wanting to know what to mark it as on the Pip-Boy.

"Taffington Boathouse. Hard to miss."

I took a piece of paper from my bag and wrote a note onto it before handing it to the man. "Well, luckily I've already cleared the place out. Its safe for them to move in, just make sure one of them goes to a place called Tenpines Buff and have them given to a lady named Katherine. She'll know what to do with it."

"Seriously?" The settler questioned in disbelief. "That's great news! We'll support the Minutemen for what you've done."

"So can you tell me you're name and what this place is called?"

"It's Arthur, General. Arthur Peskey. As for what the place is called, most call it County Crossing"

"Well, Arthur, we'll be seeing each other a lot in the future. Keep up the good work. I may be back in a few days."

After dropping the junk and spare guns we had, which I was going to make sure were delivered to Sanctuary so I could fix them up before sending them out to settlements, we started heading to the training yard. We stopped by a radio tower as we neared the yard, and the Pip-Boy picked up some new signals, but I ignored them while we head to the yard, and got my knife ready.

"Heather, be ready," I commanded as I saw a turret in the distance on top of one of the buildings and armory. It was unfortunate, but I doubted the place was unlocked. I could only hope the place had a key, and if it didn't then I would have to come back when I knew someone who could unlock it. One of the shipping crates had a suit of T-51 one power armor, which was amazing! I needed to find someone who could pick these locks though so that I could get it since the lock was too hard for me to pick. When we neared the armory, I heard the barrel of the turrets start to speed up, so I pulled out my pistol and yelled, "Turrets!" before ducking behind a wall to avoid the bullets. They started firing, and Heather stood beside me, while Curie was behind the shipping containers with Dogmeat. I waited for them to stop firing, and when they did, I turned around the corner and fired, Heather following and shooting the one I didn't. When they both blew up, I sighed before calling Heather and Dogmeat to continue following before seeing two feral ghouls coming at us.

"Merde!" I yelled as I put the pistol away. "Ferals!"

When they got too close for comfort, I sliced my knife through a leg of the first then slammed the second into the ground after slamming my arm into his chest, stabbing his head after I got off my stomach. "While these were easy, I doubt they'll all be like this" I pointed out as I wiped the blood off, then turned to Heather. "You said this place is infested with feral ghouls?"

She nodded in confirmation, and I sighed before noticing a beeping noise coming from the Pip-Boy, and when I looked at it, the signal was labeled distress signal. "Well lets clear out the place and see if we can find a key to unlock the armory. Seems to be a distress beacon inside. Let's hope we're not too late."

We got to the front of the place, I had to disable some mines and turrets, take out another feral, though Heather had taken care of three in a then walked through the door.

When I walked in, after changing the radio on my Pip-Boy, I heard the sound of the door creak and slam shut, and I became alert.

"Be ready for anything," I told them and got prepared for any ferals. I snuck forward and signaled for Heather and Dogmeat to do the same while Curie remained by the door. I didn't like the feeling I was getting, though I doubted anyone did unless they sought out danger, and hadn't even taken one step through the second doorway when I hear a feral make a weird growl turned roarish noise when it fell from above. I immediately ran and kicked it to the ground before slamming the knife into its head, before yelling to Heather, "It alerted its friends, get ready!"

When I stood up, a feral that had come from the steps ran into me, catching me by surprise and knocking me over, and began wailing at my helmet, my knife being knocked from my hands. I began to do what I could to push it off me, having to kick another that tried to attack from the side.

"Get off me!" I yelled before grabbing it by the shoulders and slamming my helmet into its face, making it fly back before I grabbed my knife and stood up. Another feral tried to run at me, but I held my knife up as it ran face-first into the blade. I switched hands and pulled the knife from the feral and used it to cut into the leg of the previous one when it tried to claw at my helmet again.

"Screw you, connard!" I yelled at it before grabbing the top of its head. "You don't get to break my helmet!" I quickly pulled its head to the side and stabbed the knife through its ear. When it fell, I saw Dogmeat holding a feral trying to get at me, so I grab the knife by the blade and threw it into the head. "You alright there, bud?" I asked as I noticed one of his legs was bleeding.

When I looked at Heather, I noticed she had taken care of three more ferals and sighed in relief before pulling a rag from Dogmeat's bag and began to wrap it around his leg. When I finished, I realized the beeping on the Pip-Boy was going off like crazy and noticed a previously closed door had opened.

"Uh, Heather?" I called out to her as I approached the body of a dead brotherhood soldier leaned against the wall, a woman who didn't look much older than her. "Do you recognize her?"

When she shook her head, I checked the woman for any tags and found a set on her.

"Knight Astlin, definitely a member of the Brotherhood of Steel. Knight was not a rank in the army." I collected the armor off her, leaving her uniform on, and got a holotape that was beside her and put it away in my bag, taking the dog tags and putting them into my pocket, for now, choosing to give them to Danse next chance I got.

"We'll discuss this later," I told her. "For now, let's finish clearing this place."

When we searched the rest of the place, we found the password to a terminal downstairs to unlock the gate, and after going through the area that connected the main building to the barracks, I felt something was off. It was as if something worse than the ferals we had been fighting was here, though as far as I knew, deathclaws and mirelurks weren't here. Crabs weren't around this area before the bombs, though I didn't know if lizards were. After taking a step forward, I heard the sound of a feral growling on the steps leading to the second floor and got ready, Heather pulling her rifle out and Curie readying her buzzsaw. When I neared the staircase, the hallway pass being blocked by a pile of debris, I turned to see a feral wearing armor of sorts standing halfway up the steps.

"Well, this'll be fun," I muttered as it charged at me, running into the wall behind me as I sidestepped it. I didn't even bother to use the blade as I lifted my leg and stomped the back of its head into the wall, my foot going through and embedding part of the head in the wall. When I searched the body, I found some ammunition on it, which I found a bit odd but chose not to question. I turned around only to have to duck to the side as another feral came at me, having come from the top of the stairs.

"Well screw you too, visage de merde!" I yelled as I kicked it away after standing. "Why attack from behind!"

Another two ferals came running from the top of the stairs, and I had to jump back to narrowly avoid getting hit by one of them when the other went for Curie. I kicked the one that tried to hit me in the stomach before grabbing the one that went for Curie by the back of the head before slamming the back of it onto my knee, caving the back of it in, sending it to join its friends that we had already taken care of. I didn't have time to dwell as I turned to take care of the one that has attacked previously. It had gotten up and was now hitting the back of Heather's power armor while she took care of the one in front of her. When I ran and stabbed the knife into the side of its head, I didn't get the chance to slow down as I twisted the head with the weight of my body, and when I stood up after stopping, the head of the feral had detached itself from the body and landed by my foot.

"Well that was unexpected," I commented seeing the look on Heather's face and Curie and Dogmeat's eyes. "There's bound to be more, so let's not dilly dally, and finish clearing this nest."

When we were searching the upstairs area before the main area where the beds and cafeteria was, we had to take care of three ferals, one that I took care of, one Heather took down, and the third Heather and I killed together. I almost open the door to the barrack area before hearing the Geiger Counter on the Pip-Boy go off.

"It's a good thing my armor and your suit protects against most radiation, but let's take some rad-x just to be safe," I commented as I handed Heather some of the medicine. "Don't want to get radiation poisoning."

After taking the medicine I turned to Dogmeat. "Stay here with Curie bud. We'll be back after clearing this area." He whimpered when I told him to stay behind, so I pet the side of his head to reassure him. "Everything's going to be alright bud. We're just going to clear out a few ferals then we'll be right back."

After making sure he'd be alright and that Curie would stay here, I opened the door and stepped through, Heather following close behind. When I surveyed the area, I noticed a feral under some debris, another by a bunk on the other side of the hole in the floor that led to the first, a few on the first, but it was still confusing as to where the radiation came from.

"Be ready," I whispered to Heather. "Looks like we're about to have a party." I crouched down and signaled for HEather to wait before I snuck over to the feral under debris. It started to crawl out, but before it could make any noise, I plunged my knife into the back of its skull, silencing its moans. After searching it and finding a switchblade on it, I held my combat knife in one hand and the switchblade in the other.

"I didn't expect to find this blade, but it'll help. Now to get the party started."

I signaled to Heather it was safe to open fire on any ferals, and she went or the ferals on the first floor while I ran to get the feral on the other side of the room. It noticed and screamed as it charged to hit me, but I ducked under it as it swung its arms, allowing me to cut its leg as I went behind it, then slammed the switchblade into its shoulder, forcing it to its knees, before slamming the knife into the top of the head, effectively killing the thing.

"Got this one!" I yelled to Heather as I noticed more ferals coming from the kitchen. "And I'm getting more!" I ran to the entrance of the cafeteria before swinging down, making sure to keep a grip on the blades, and kicking the head of the first one trying to come through, knocking the head off the body, before knocking the one behind it to the ground, and stood before thrusting my knife into the head of a third coming from the kitchen.

"Don't even think of getting up!" I yelled as I slammed the switchblade into the face of the one I knocked down. When I stood up and walked out to the area Heather was, I almost say something when I hear something slamming the door to the bathroom of the area."Oh merde."

The door began to crack, and Heather got her rifle ready while I got ready to stab anything that came through. When the door finally broke down, I groaned in annoyance.

"A putain de glowing one! What's next, glowing crabs?"

It ran at me, and Heather started firing, and when it tried to hit, I threw a punch that connected with its hand, and when I pulled my fist back, its arm had dislocated, and the Geiger Counter on the Pip-Boy was going crazy.

"So you're the source of radiation," I mused. "Then I guess we just have to get rid of you then."

It tried to hit me again, but this time I grabbed its arm before kicking it back while keeping a grip on the arm, tearing it from the body.

"Try to hit me now, cupcake!" I yelled before hitting it across the face with its arm, sending it sprawling to the ground. I tossed the arm to the side as I held my knife in my hand and approached the ghoul as it got up. It screamed, making me reach up to my helmet in a fruitless attempt to cover my ears, before releasing a cloud of gas from its body, and when I turned around, one of the ferals Heather had taken care of had gotten back up, as if he hadn't just died.

"So you can bring your friends back from the grave. Guess I'll have to take care of you first."

I quickly ran up to it, and before it could try to hit me, I sent a swift kick to its knee, breaking and forcing it to the ground. I quickly put on hand on its jaw and the other on the upper part, and began to force the mouth apart. It began to bite down, the gloves I was wearing keeping it from biting into my hands. "Just quit struggling!" I yelled before pulling with as much strength as I could muster, ripping the jaw from the head, making it use its dislocated arm and nonexistent one to reach up to its head before falling onto its back. When I turned to Heather, she had already taken care of the one that had come back, and I was gasping for air.

"Well… now I know why… to always go for the head," I commented between breaths. After catching my breath and my breathing had returned to normal. I looked at Heather. "Make sure I don't do that unless it's on a glowing one. And look at that, the Geiger Counter has shut up."

I held up my Pip-Boy, showing the detector had stopped making noise and needle had gone back to zero. "Now let's get Curie and Dogmeat and get out of here."

"Mason, you're bleeding," Heather noted as I walked up the broken floor that made a ramp.

"Where?" I questioned as I looked over my body, not finding any source of blood before feeling damp on the back of my leg. "Nevermind. Go get Curie and Dogmeat, I'm heading to the cafeteria to get it wrapped until we get to a settlement."

"On it," Heather responded, and I maneuvered around her as I went back down, and when I went into the kitchen, after sitting down and lifting my pant leg, I used a stimpak to heal the leg before tying a bandanna and a piece of folded cloth around the leg to close the wound as well as I could before sticking the knife in my boot and standing back up as I drank a bottle of water. Before leaving the room, I notice a magazine on the ground, a U.S. Covert Operations Manual, and put it into my bag for now before limping to the others, who were waiting by a door that led to the hallway.

"Monsieur! You're hurt!" Curie exclaimed when she saw me. "Do you need help with your injury?"

"I'll be fine," I told her. "I've been through worse, have already used a stimpak, and we'll worry about it when we find a place where we can hopefully rest for the night. Now let's move out."

We started walking, and after unlocking the terminal to the gate outside that otherwise would've meant we had to go back the way we came if it was locked, continued east.

When we neared the satellite array, I noticed it was full of Super Mutants, and I almost have Heather, Curie, and Dogmeat follow me around the place to avoid them when I notice the Pip-Boy picked up a distress signal, so I took a deep breath and told Curie to stay by the road while Heather, Dogmeat and I went for the mutants.

"I won't be able to do a lot this fight," I informed Heather. "Mainly because I can't kick for now."

"I got your back," Heather grinned. Which was reassuring, because I didn't know how many mutants were in this place, and I didn't want to break either of my hands or knife.

"Well let's go clear an array."

We started getting closer, Heather having to be a bit further behind me and Dogmeat due to her power armor. When I got right outside the door of a trailer by the road, I signaled for Heather to wait and for Dogmeat to sit. I knew a Super Mutant was in the trailer, so I didn't want Dogmeat to get injured or the alarm to get set off just yet. When I got to the part of the trailer that had a section connecting it to the other, I could hear one of the mutants breathing heavily around the corner, before it started coming this way. I pressed my back against the wall as it went by, unaware I was behind it. Before it knew I was there, I clutched the knife and quietly approached the mutant from behind. I quietly stood, and before it even knew what happened, I slammed the blade into its brain, bringing it down as I pushed it away. Before doing anything, I put the knife away and went up to one of the windows and signaled for Heather to come to the trailer, then brought Dogmeat in as well. I had to disable a trap, which was easy since it was a tripwire and pulled out my rifle to scout the enemies. All I could see on the right side was a suicider, to mutants, one of them looking stronger than the other, and one that looked like a butcher, and a third at the bottom of the stairs of the satellite they were on holding a heavy sledgehammer.

"Well that's great," I commented as I went to the other side of the trailer. "Now I won't have to worry about breaking my knife."

When I looked at the mutants on this side, there were two mutants on the middle one which was missing the satellite, which I could see now, two at the top of the tallest one, one of them looking like he controlled the others, and a mutant hound at the bottom. After thinking about what our chances of completing this were, and how we should go about it, I turned to Heather.

"You go left," I commanded. "Wait 'til I've taken care of the suicider, then open fire on the mutants. Dogmeat, you go with her."

After going back to the other side of the trailer, I lifted my rifle and aimed for the mini-nuke the suicider held.

"Take this, visage de bite," I muttered as I pulled the trigger. When I saw the nuke had blown up, I realized I had taken care of the brute with a sledgehammer, making it easier to get that. I heard Heather start firing, and I started stalking my way towards the mutants on that tower.

"Stupid human!" the one with a gun yelled as I came closer, the bullets bouncing off my armor and helmet when they did hit. When its friend had gotten to the bottom, it came at me with its board raised.

"Die!" it yelled as it swung the board down.

"Not today, mère baiseur," I taunted as I turned my body to avoid the board, before sending a strong hook, sending him staggering back while I fell to a knee. After pulling my knife out, I got back up only to be forced back to my knee as the Super Mutant had recovered and hit me on the shoulder with the board.

"You piece of merde," I muttered as I flipped the knife in my hand and put one hand on the board. "Learn to respect your elders!" I pushed the board to the side, grunting as I did since I could only use one hand to do so, and when it went to the ground, I thrust the blade up, sending it into its head.

"And screw you too, merde cerveau," I grunted as I pulled the blade back and regained my balance. I quickly move as fast as I can to the heavy sledge, narrowly avoiding bullets from the mutant with a gun. After putting my knife away and grabbing the hammer, I clambered up the steps to the one on this side left.

"Stupid human!" the Super Mutant yelled as the hammer connected with his leg as I swung it.

"Smarter than your dumb cul," I muttered as I jumped back when he tried to ash the stock of his rifle into my helmet. Before he could do anything, I brought the hammer around and swung it with my full strength, his head slamming into the railing as the hammer forced his head further onto it, crushing the top of his skull where it was. I immediately pull the hammer back and clamber back down the steps, heading to the other side where Heather was. When I got over there, the two Super Mutants in the middle were ash, and there was a mutant backing up in my direction that was facing Heather, which made this easier.

"Aagh!" it roared as I slammed the sledge into its back, making it fall to the ground as I had broken its spine.

"Say hi to your brothers for me!" I yelled before bringing the hammer onto its green head, smashing the skull into the ground. I hobbled over to Heather as she was firing at Super Mutants at the top of the satellite and grinned.

"Keep their attention," I smirked. "I got an idea."

I began to go up the steps of the place, holding the head of the hammer of the stairs so they didn't notice me coming up, at one point jumping back when a body fell past. When I got to the top, I saw the leader of these mutants hiding behind a wooden wall of sorts.

"Hey, pisse pour le cerveau!" I yelled as I staggered closer to it, the handle of the hammer clutched by both hands, my eyes furrowed, a look of disgust on my face. As soon as I killed him, I was going to find out who sent the distress signal, and hopefully get them out of here. "Let's see how well you do against a human with a really big hammer."

It roared as it dropped its gun and grabbed a board, charging at me, going for my head as it swung its board.

"Not today," I muttered as I ducked under a swing and slammed the hammer into its stomach as I went behind it, forcing them to clutch over in pain, before bringing the hammer up and slamming it onto its back, making it roar. I got back in front of it and said, "You shouldn't hold innocent people hostage or crap."

"No!" it yelled as I raised the hammer, before swinging it down like a golf club and hitting the mutant in the head, knocking him over the side of the satellite, sending him to Heather. When I looked down, I whistled as it went down, then made a pshh noise when it hit the ground.

"Well, he's dead now," I muttered after I dropped the hammer and turned around. "Definitely for the best. Now I got to figure out where that beacon is coming from."

When I looked around at the top of this satellite, I knew it couldn't have been coming from this one, there was a trunk that had a few guns and ammunition, one of the guns I put in my bag since it was a combat rifle, making sure to grab the ammunition since the guns were worthless without ammunition. Nearby it was a power armor frame I would've grabbed if it wasn't too short, and would've had Heather get into it if she wasn't already wearing a suit. After climbing back down the steps, I came up to Heather and grinned.

"Guess we got this place cleared out," I smiled. "Where would you say the beacon is, 'cause it wasn't at the top of this satellite."

"That one, maybe," Heather responded as she pointed at the satellite the first three I had killed was. "It's got a shack up there, so that could be where it's coming from."

"Alright," I replied as I scratched the back of my neck. "Can you go get Curie? I'll go check out the shack then we can get back to moving."

"On it."

As I turned to the satellite, I noticed Heather's face had been red when we were talking and could assume it was from the fighting that just happened. I ended up turning my head away when we were talking, though I didn't even know why.

After reaching the shack, I found a distress beacon and disabled it, but when I looked at the body beside it, I froze. There was a man dressed in the same uniform as Haylen, and she was back at the police station! After searching his body, I found a holotape and dog tags. I put the holotape for the time being and looked at the tags.

"Scribe Faris. He was definitely a member of the brotherhood. Only way he could have this uniform." After taking a quick look out the shack, I saw Heather walking back with Dogmeat and Curie and made a decision I hoped I wouldn't regret. Pocketing the dog tags away, I quickly put my bag back on and sped down the walkway, meeting Heather at the bottom.

"Was anyone up there?" Heather asked with a smile. One I didn't want to go away.

"Just some random gunner," I responded, lying through my teeth. "Super Mutants already killed him."

"Oh, dear," Curie said. "This is a tragedy. Surely we can find his family to inform them?"

"No, gunners will kill us before we can tell them," I informed her. "And even if they didn't they wouldn't believe us. Let's just get going and leave this place."

We almost start leaving when Dogmeat nudges my leg.

"What is it bud, you got something for me?"

When he drops something in my hand, and I'm surprised but pleased nonetheless. When I see what it is, I'm shocked.

"Where'd you find this, bud?" I questioned, and he pointed his at the top of the middle tower thing. "Well, who's a good boy? You are!" I began to play with him, and Heather smiled while Curie looked pleased.

"Well let's get going. It's almost night."

We began walking again, this time I had to only dance with my arms by swinging them horribly and stuff, making Heather beam and Curie laugh. After a while, we came upon a trailer that was by a farm and had something big in it and would've kept walking if I didn't see a Mr. Gutsy up ahead. After being sure the others had seen it, I turned to Heather.

"I need you and Curie to distract," I told her. "I'm going to go around and try to sneak up on it. I know its a machine, and I know its weakness. It's missing two of its eyes, so it can only see forward, so if you can hold its attention, I can disable it."

After Curie and Heather nodded, well Curie made her front eye go up and down, I told Dogmeat to stay with them while I snuck around to the side. After climbing on top of the trailer, I heard them open fire. I quickly got to the right position, and before it knew what was happening, I had jumped on top of the thing. It began whirring and trying to throw me off, but I held on, using its eyes as a holding point. I used my free hand to pull out my knife, which proved difficult with the way it moved, and after doing it, I jammed it into a gap between the top plating and the center. I managed to bend it enough to get a grip, and when I did, I slid off the machine and planted my feet on the ground and ripped the top off, breaking metal and almost breaking the eye. Before It could use its flamer, I reached down through the top, and found its core, right where I knew it was. It was built like a Mr. Handy, and I had to know where Codswroth's was if I needed to replace his. Without thinking, I pulled up, ripping the core out with some parts that weren't even necessarily a part of it. After the machine fell, I looked at the core in my hands before pocketing it.

"It's bound to be worth something," I muttered as I noticed the confused look on Dogmeat's face and Curie's eyes.

I almost continued to the farm before remembering I had noticed something in the trailer before this started.

"What the heck is this?" I questioned as I walked up to a suit of power armor that I didn't recognize. The chest piece itself was a bit odd, reminding me of the front of a football player's chest protection. The shoulder of the one arm piece lined up with a piece on the shoulder, making it look like a piece of clothing designed to hold a cape, and the helmet had two eyes that seemed like they belonged to an alien of sorts. When I looked at the leg it had, it looked like it belonged to a pair of combat pants, though this couldn't be the case since it was too bulky for pants. "Do you recognize this, Heather?" I questioned when she saw the suit.

"It's X0-1," Heather informed me, which surprised me. I hadn't heard of this before the bombs fell. "It was employed by the Enclave when they went to war with the brotherhood."

"The Enclave?" I questioned before shaking my head. "Nevermind. It's just odd that this is my size."

I went around and after taking my helmet and bag off, opened and entered it. When I lifted the arm, I noticed it looked to be made of a different material than T-60 was, since it felt like it weighed the same but was slimmer than it. When I looked around, I took the helmet off and fumbled for a switch before finding it, and when it turned on, I was almost blinded because the lights were lit from the eyes, almost making me drop it before I put it back on.

"Now I can look like a demon when I change the colors of the lights."

"Is that a good idea, monsieur?" Curie asked as I stepped out of the trailer. "Surely you wish to inspire people, not frighten them."

"I meant while fighting. Otherwise, I wouldn't be a good leader if I scared all the people I helped."

When I walked down the hill leading to the farm, a man wearing a green RobCo T-Shirt came running out with a gun.

"Hey, you!" He yelled as he approached me, lowering his gun when he got close. "Oh, sorry, thought you might be a couple of those Forged maniacs, but you don't have the burns. A group of 'em took over the old ironworks, and they'll shoot ya just as soon as look at ya."

That was odd. Did these raiders worship fire or something? "I'm with the Minutemen. Tell me what happened and maybe I can help."

"Wel, I'll be jiggered. Didn't really expect anybody to come." Was there something I was forgetting? I honestly don't remember being told about this place. "That bastard son of mine, Jake, snuck out in the middle of the night to join 'em. He grabbed my granddad's old sword. It's the closest thing I've got to an heirloom. If you really are with the Minutemen and you want to help, well, it would mean a lot to me if you could get that sword back."

"What about your son, Jake? You don't care what happens to him?" I questioned, concerned he didn't care for his son's well being.

"I didn't raise my boys to be raiders. As far as I'm concerned… he's dead to me."

Well, that was cold. Didn't he raise him? If he did, he should've wanted me to still bring him back.

"Is there anything about the Forged I should know?"

"They're led by a guy named Slag. Came in from outside of the Commonwealth a few months back and started recuitin'. Mostly, they've just been strong armin' folks, but with how quick they've been growin' it's just a matter of time till the raids get worse."

That was definitely concerning. This was a problem I would have to destroy at its roots.

"What kind of sword am I looking for?"

"One of the old pre-war swords, rigged up to shoot flames from the blade. Probably why Jake thought they'd let him join. So, what do you say?"

Looking around, this was a good point to have in the Commonwealth. Decent size, plenty of farmland, and easy to get to.

"Yeah," I responded as I walked up to the steps of his farm. "I'll wipe them out for you."

"You're doin' me a big favor, and I'll make it up to you as best as I can."

After stepping out of the power armor and taking out the fusion core, I grabbed a stimpak and bottle of water, and looked over at the ironworks and stuck the stimpak into my leg. I hoped the Forged were ready, and that they were prepared for a battle.


	17. Chapter 16: The Forged and the Slog

Before we could go after the forge, we had to rest for the night at the farm. Luckily they had a spare bed, allowing Heather and I to get some much needed rest. When I got up, Heather was still sleeping, so I helped the Finches collect their fruits and vegetables so they wouldn't have to worry when they woke up. It took a while, but when I was done, the sun was starting to rise and Heather had woken up, though I needed to talk to Curie first.

"Is now a better time to converse?" she questioned as I approached her.

"Of course, is everything alright?"

"On the whole, no. It is not. I have spent much effort gathering information in our travels so far. And my self-diagnostics have come to a grim conclusion. It is not lack of data or lack of collaboration which stifles my scientific progress. The inescapable truth is there has never been a great robot scientist."

"I'm sure your research isn't all that bad," I tried to reassure her.

"You are polite to say this. But if something does not change, my efforts will be mere stagnation. The greatest scientific minds, the Einsteins and the Curies, my namesake, have had something beyond raw data analysis capabilities. They have had a spark. This elusive inspiration is something I must possess."

"You're starting to worry me, Curie. Can you please elaborate on what you mean?"

"There is no need to worry. If I am to advance my understanding of medicine in this strange world, I must embark on a great adventure. I must become human, or as close as I can. I must find a way to download all that I am into a human brain."

Was something like that possible? Sure, I had heard of synths, but they generally looked and acted too much like a machine to actually blend in, though what happened in Diamond City suggested they looked eerily close to humans.

"You don't need to be an Einstein to help. The world needs doctors, not people playing god."

"Those that know things, guard them jealously. The Brotherhood of Steel, the Institute, they horde knowledge. The only way we will progress as a society is in the free flow of ideas. If you find someone- a brain surgeon, an artificial intelligence programmer, or someone who is an expert in matters of the head, please bring me to them."

Well, that raised a few questions. First, was how the heck did she know who the Brotherhood of Steel was? I hadn't talked to her about it, and if I did, I couldn't recall it. Heather could have, but that wouldn't explain how they knew what they did. As for the brain surgeon or A.I. Programmer, it would be difficult, probably impossible to find either.

After we ate, then talking to Abraham and letting him know we'd be leaving the Power Armor here without the cores and explaining we'd be back after an hour or two, we started walking to the old ironworks.

Let's just say when I heard about the Forged, they sounded different than what they were. When I came, I was expecting something that would be different from what I usually fought. Maybe some people that actually knew how to fight, maybe a few firetraps. They were… disappointing. The first two got a pass. He hadn't noticed anything until I had grabbed him by his face, and despite managing to warn his friends I was here, his neck was snapped before he could pull out his weapon, and Heather had turned the one nearby to ash.

"I guess its time to see how they actually fight," I muttered as I made sure Puissance was secure.

"I got your back," Heather responded as I went down the steps, waiting for the first one to charge.

When one tried to hit me with a bat, I used both arms to block it before sending a kick and could've sworn I heard something break. The guy went down holding his family jewels, and I had picked up his bat and smashed his head in before he could recover. Honestly, when I had kicked him, it made me wince a little. No guy wanted to get hit there. It had happened once when a girl mistook me for my brother and kicked me. Needless to say, I cursed him out when I saw him.

"Come on, enfoirée!" I yelled at the next Forged, a woman with a flamer, as she ran towards. Despite the fire hitting, it felt more like hot air, the flames going around the armor. Before letting it do too much though, I used one hand to grab the barrel of the propane tank and the other to grab the bottom barrel, and to the surprise of the woman, I bent it right, aiming it away from my body. She let go of it with one hand and pulled out a tire axe to try and hit my shoulder, probably trying to cut my arm off, but I turned to the side as it went past, barely scratching my armor.

"That's not nice," I responded as I grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off her feet as she released the flamer and axe, clawing at my arm to let her go. "Why don't you play nice!"

She kept kicking as I sent a punch to her stomach, making her clawing stop as she clutched herself. I dropped her to the ground, and before she could stand, stomped her head into the pavement, her struggle ending after three stomps. Another tried shooting at me with a pipe weapon, but I grabbed the dead woman's axe and launched it at the man, embedding it in his head, the axe having gone through a helmet.

"You guys are worse than raiders," I commented before turning to the next one, hiding in the trailer-like structure connected to the main building. When she saw me looking at her, she screamed and backed away, struggling to pull out her pistol.

"Go away, fucker!" she screamed, her voice quivering in fear.

"And why should I," I questioned as I lifted my leg and pulled out my knife, "when you didn't leave those farmers alone? You think your 'boss' will kill me?"

I stepped closer, and she kept firing, mostly missing but a few bouncing off my helmet and chest plate. When I got close enough, I kicked her in her knee, forcing her to the ground before grabbing her face.

"Now you get to join your friends," I told her before stabbing her in the stomach, twisted the blade, then pulled it out before leaving her on the ground to die.

"You… bastard…" she grunted as she tried to crawl away.

"Lady, you shouldn't have tried to be something you're not," I muttered as I turned to the building. "Your boss is next."

Before we went in, we searched the others for anything useful, getting some ammunition and caps off them, leaving the flamers since they would've weighed us down, forgetting the armor since it was worthless.

"Was that necessary, Mason?" Curie asked as we walked by the body of the last forged.

"Necessary? No. Why did I do it? Didn't feel like pulling my gun out or stabbing her in the head. It's hard to actually stab the heart if you don't know where to stab and how to get the blade between the ribs. Besides, if any raiders try to set up shop here, they'll wonder what killed them, because it wasn't a gun or something with claws. Now let's clear out the rest of these raiders. Curie, stay in the back so you don't have to fight. Heather, behind me to provide fire support. Dogmeat, you're on me."

After making sure my pistol was loaded and ready, I put it away and opened the door.

I wasn't really sure what I was expecting when I walked in. Probably more blood and stuff around the place. All I saw was a place that looked pretty normal, save for a few things here and there. When I crouched and started sneaking, I went left and up the path leading to the back. I ran into a forged, who almost yelled, but I got my knife into his kneck before he could say anything. When I looked out, I saw I didn't have much of a choice and whispered to Heather, "We're going to do this 'Loud and proud' as my old man used to say."

"Are you sure that is wise, monsieur?" Curie asked. "Surely you don't have to resort to violence."

"Not with these guys," I responded. "These are of the shoot first ask later variety. I am too, but only with people I know or can tell shoot first and ask later. Besides, they're just raiders throwing fire. Nothing too hard." I didn't even give Curie a time to respond to that as I stood up and yelled, "You ready for this, cerveaux de flammes!"

After yelling that, I jumped over the railing and ran to the other side, jumping over a rolling conveyor to get across, and slammed into a raider that had started to pull out his gun. He tried to pull my arm off, my hand on his throat, and before he could think of grabbing his gun, I used my knife and jammed it up through a gap in his helmet and armor.

When I stood up, I staggered forward, something hitting my helmet from behind. When I turned to the source, I saw the third raider in the room, standing in front of a fourth, a combat rifle out and aimed at my head.

"I want that rifle," I commented as I stepped forward, both just realizing the situation they were in. Walking forward, they fired their weapons, and when I started getting close, the woman traded her pistol out for a flamer and got ready to fire. My first step on the stairs, they stepped back, mainly because I had stomped and dented the thing, and the woman started firing the flamer. She couldn't do anything though as I grabbed the barrel, bending it like the one I did it to outside. She released the flamer and pulled out her pistol before I slapped her to the ground. By that, I mean I reached my gloved hand up and brought down onto the side of her helmet. It was almost comical in a sense.

"You fall over easily," I muttered as I grabbed her by the throat and dragged her over to one of the smelters and held her over it.

"Wait, I'll do anything! Just let me go!" the woman screamed at me, desperate for me to let her live.

"Anything?" I questioned, and when she nodded, I grinned under my helmet. "Then die."

When I released her, she dropped into the liquid metal, screaming as she burned. I noticed Heather had turned the other guy to ash and looked uncomfortable, so I pulled out my pistol, aimed at the woman, and pulled the trigger, ending her screams.

"Let's go," I commanded, walking up the steps, grabbing the combat rifle as I did. Curie tried to say something, but I walked past her, looking for another way around besides those doors, hoping there was a spot up top we could cross over.

When we found a way to the other side, I looked down over the side before letting them know was up here to see how many we were fighting. Turns out, just three people and a turret. After finding my way across and down, I decided to make my presence known.

"Oi, pisse cerveau!" I roared, pulling my knife out as I ran at the nearest one.

"Fuck off!" the man yelled as he kicked me, his foot hitting my hip. Unfortunately for him, I was already going to stab him all that did was speed up the process as I put the knife into his throat. I released the knife and turned to the other two. "Bring it on." I taunted, and one ran at me with a tire iron while the other pulled out a pipe rifle.

"That all you got," I said as them man neared and got ready. "Then you're going to lose. Horribly."

The woman swung the iron down, aiming for my shoulder, missing as I turned my body and socked her in the nose. She staggered back, blood pouring from her nose like a steadily leaking pipe, and when she grabbed her nose, I kicked her in the stomach forcing her to the ground. Before she could do anything, I knicked her out by kicking her head, then tossed her over the side of the rails, into one of the smelters. Luckily she didn't have to feel anything as she went in headfirst. When I turned to the third raider and turret, Heather had taken out the raider and was in cover as she reloaded her gun. I just sighed as the turret locked on to me, pulling out my pistol and firing six rounds into it, blowing it enfer. After grabbing my knife from the body with some iron knuckles that were made for armor penetration they had, I walked over to the door and figured which led outside, and which led to another room.

"Mason, your arm is bleeding," Heather commented as she and Curie joined Dogmeat and me by the door that likely led to the room Slag was in.

"You're point?" I questioned, shocking her and Curie. "It's a graze, nothing more, nothing less. Now let's go."

"Not until you let the mademoiselle patch you up," Curie insisted, getting in front of me.

"If it'll get you out of my way so I can get this kid back to his father," I grunted and sat down as Heather took out a pad and wrap, removing my armor to get to the spot it was bleeding from. And it turns out, a bullet from the turret had hit the armor, pierced it, and embedded itself into my skin. So not a graze. After getting some help from Curie and applying her medicine to it, Heather put the pad on and wrapped it, finishing it off with a stimpak and giving me a bottle of water.

Now let's get this done," I muttered as I down the bottle, tossing it into a smelter. When I opened the door, someone was kicked down from above and into the big smelter below.

"If they try to leave, kill them. You must be pretty strong to make it here," a man, whom I could assume was Slag from the Power Armor and sword he had, said as two raiders closed the door behind us.

"A bunch of raiders flinging fire?" I scoffed. "Not even a challenge. I doubt a man in power armor is much of a threat."

"Most of them were never gonna be worth forging in the first place. See, Jake here's someone who might actually be worth my time. Unlike you," Slag said, making me turn my head to see the kid I was looking for, definitely couldn't be older than eighteen.

"But… but I brought everything you asked for," Jake tried to reason, making Slag laugh.

"Stealing things from your family doesn't prove your strength, boy. Though this wonderful sword you brought does put me in the mood to give you one last chance to prove your worth. What do you say? Kill that prisoner and prove that you aren't completely useless."

"You said we'd be raiding outside the Commonwealth. These people aren't even a threat to us!"

"Prove to me that you can kill. It's him or you."

"Oh god, what do I do, what do I do?"

That made this easier. It was obvious the kid's heart was in the right place, but he just went about doing it the wrong way.

"What about your family? Is this what Abraham would want you to do?" I asked him, hoping he would see reason.

"I thought he hated me. Did… did he send you here to find me?"

"Not exactly," I admitted, remembering his father's words. "But there is still time to turn things around."

"You're right. It won't be easy, but I can still make things right," Jake said before turning to Slag and telling him was refusing to join, though what I don't remember because Heather made a comment that made me laugh internally.

"Oh goody! More assholes with fire."

I knew a fight was about to break out, so before they did anything, I grabbed the nearest guard by the door, and slammed him into his friend, knocking them both to the ground. They started firing, surprising me when Slag had a laser rifle, and I ran at the one on the left before delivering a swift blow to his throat, making him gasp for air, giving me the time I needed to punch him across the face before an uppercut, knocking him back into the molten metal. I quickly ran up the steps, putting my newfound knuckles in the process, Heather having killed the other guy, and as Slag put his gun away to use the sword, I got my fist ready and kicked off the wall, striking him across the face. I probably would've fallen into the vat as well, but because of the Power Armor Slag had, I was able to grab onto it and swing around to his back, exposing his fusion core to me. Before he could turn around, I grabbed him by the shoulder using one hand and used the other to punch his Fusion Core multiple times.

"What are you doing, jackass!" Slag yelled as I began running.

"Getting away from the explosion!" I yelled as I socked another raider who got in my way as I ran. He didn't even have time to register what I said before the Fusion Core gave out, finally blowing up, taking Slag with it. After picking up the sword he had, as well as a bobblehead and a fence magazine that was behind him, I walked up to Jake, who was cowering down with his hands above his head.

"Wait, wait! I'm sorry. I… I messed up! I panicked!" Jake pleaded as I neared him.

"You're lucky I have a soft spot for ânes stupides," I responded.

"I, uh. Yeah. I… I messed up pretty bad. I… I'm sorry. Look, I… I should probably try to make amend. I know I've got no right to ask...But I bet if you're there to explain, things with my dad would go easier. I bet if you bring my great granddad's sword, he… he'll make it worth your while. He always deals fair with people. I'll wait for you by the overpass near the farm."

I let Jake go ahead while I cut the ties holding a settler off, letting her free. She thanked me and handed me a few caps for helping her, though I didn't need them. After she left, I went on the roof to clear it, which was relatively easy since there were only five people. When they were taken care of, I jumped off the side of the building off a walkway that was missing a railing. Unfortunately, I staggered back, something hitting Puissance as I hit the ground. When I looked to see what hit me, I immediately put my hands up, an asaultron trying to use its claws to hit me. I grabbed it by its claws, keeping it from doing any harm and growled.

"Not in the mood, chapeau de cul," I muttered as I pushed it the claws up, raising them above its head a little before sending a kick to one of its legs, making it stagger as I held onto its claws. "Now do me a favor, and take a dirt nap," I growled before releasing one of the claws to pull out my pistol, stuck it up to its head, and the rest of the bullets into it, making it fall to the ground deactivated.

"Don't tell me you wanna fight," I groaned as I turned to a Gunner that was by a small stream of sorts.

"Let's go, mother fucker! You and I, one on one!" the woman yelled.

"If you think you can provide me something worth jack squat, then let's go."

When she neared and swung a punch, trying to go for a hook, though the wind-up made it too obvious, I ducked under before planting a fist into her stomach, then pulled back and punched up as she bent over, knocking her back a couple of steps.

"This is disappointing," I commented. "And here I was hoping you would be worth it."

"Shut up, ass hole!" she yelled as she tried to hit again, her kick going under my legs as I jumped before kicking off her chest, knocking her back even more and taking the air from her lungs.

"It's a good thing you have that armor," I told her. "Otherwise you'd be on the ground, blood filling your lungs."

"You… bastard…" she grunted between breathes. "I'll… kill you…"

"Not likely, sweetheart," I responded, pulling my knife out as I approached her. "You're tired and out of breath, yet I haven't even started."

"The Gunners… will hunt you… down.."

"I took down an assaultron with nothing more than my hands, a pistol, and six bullets. What hope do your Gunners have?" I questioned as I grabbed her by her throat. "Next to none. You just lost horribly, and you're still condescending. Join the forged, would you?" Before she could respond, I thrust the knife into her head, her body faintly glowing red as I dropped it. I quickly collected the armor, finding a piece of pink armor on her that was confusing. It was stuffed and looked like a child made it, and it was lighter than most armor. I put it away into my bag for now and continued walking, Heather, Curie, and Dogmeat joining before I did. And not even fifteen minutes later, I ran into Jake by the overpass, who was feeling like he was going to throw up from being nervous. As we walked up to the farm, I did what I could to calm Jake's nerves, who was feeling slightly better as we neared his family.

"What the…" Abraham yelled as he saw Jake. "Boy, I told you that if you ever showed your face here again I'd-"

"Abraham, what's going on? Is that my boy come home?" a woman, who I assumed was Abraham's wife, interrupted.

"What? Jake's back? Oh, thank God," Another guy, who looked a lot like Jake, said as he jogged up to this little gathering.

"Papa, please. I… I know I screwed up pretty big. I… I thought if I joined up I could… keep them from raiding our farm. I didn't… I don't want to hurt anybody," Jake tried to explain.

"I don't care what you thought. I told you-"

"Abraham Francis Finch. That's enough!"

"Mama, I-"

"Shut up Jake. If I hear anything out of either of you, you'll both be peeling potatoes for the next year. I've watched you two go at it for years and tried to let you sort it out for yourselves. Abraham, your son is a grown man and if you expect him to act like it then you'd better stop treating him like a child. Jake, your father and I have been out there, and we know it can be dangerous. We just want to make sure you're prepared. There. It's over… And if I hear another word about it from either of you, so help me…"

Well, that was one scary woman. Reminded me of my mother when she got annoyed by my old man. And nobody won when that happened.

"She's right, I've been a fool," Abraham told me. "There's no way I can thank you enough. Here's the caps we agreed on, plus a bit of extra for helpin' my boy. I think you should hang onto that sword. It's put a smile on granddad's face to know it was being used to help people."

So I helped the kid, and I got a sword in the process. That was nice, but I needed to talk to Heather and Curie. Now that this whole business with getting this guy's son back was over, my head was finally screwed back on right.

"Is everything alright, Mason?" Curie asked as I approached them.

"Uh, yeah. I'm trying to think of what to say," I admitted as I took my helmet off, never having been one to apologize for stuff I did when I was a kid. "I'm sorry. For the way, I acted at the ironworks."

"Was everything alright? You seemed more aggressive when you fought."

"I suppose it was because of what Abraham said," I admitted. "I guess when he said he didn't care about what happened to his son, I got annoyed, leading to me being more reckless."

"Don't forget, people care about you," Heather commented, making me rub the back of my head as I turned away.

"I'll try to remember that. Now let's get ready. Could be a potential settlement going to the North."

After stepping into our Power Armor, I noticed I couldn't exactly move fast, which Heather noticed and questioned.

"All Power Armor helps me with is defense," I explained. "I can lift more than this rust bucket can without modifications."

"Do you want to leave the Power Armor then?"

"Nope," I responded as I put the helmet on. "I'll leave it at the next place we stop at. That shack of theirs barely had any room in it, so better to leave it somewhere else."

We started moving, each step I took sound like a stomp, and not even ten minutes later tan into a woman with red hair.

"Hey, I got a question for ya. I've got a really top tier piece of cowflesh for sale if you know what I mean," the woman said, which was an odd choice of words.

"Does this brahmin really belong to you?"

"Wha- what do you think, it's stolen, or somethin'?"

That confirmed it, she had either stolen or found it, though wherefrom I had no idea. "What would I do with a brahmin?"

"What would you do with a… oh, you're serious? Well…. Whatever you want. Some people use them for farming, I hear. Increases productivity quite a bit. That's what I hear at least."

I decided to get the thing, figuring it'd be better in a settlement than in the wild. After counting out a hundred caps, I handed them over to the woman and said, "Sure, I'll take her."

"Oh, great, great. Just tell me where you want me to take her, and she's all yours."

"The farm behind us," I responded, pointing to the Finch Farm. "Now if you'll excuse us, we must get going."

"I will say this," I said three hours later, noticing something that looked like a pool up ahead. "This armor makes me feel like a tank more than T-60 ever has. Probably has to do with the way I move." With that, I started swinging my arms up and down dramatically, sort of like I had tentacles for arms, my hips moving side to side to make it funnier.

"People may not take you seriously if you're caught doing that," Heather said, holding in her laughter.

"You like it, admit it," I said as I stuck my hips out, hands on them.

"Monsieur, is this appropriate behavior?" Curie questioned.

"Never got in trouble for it before, besides when we were taking an exam in school," I admitted. "Though, to be fair the tension in the room was suffocating, had to do something."

We would've continued talking, but something that looked like a feral ghoul walked up, though it wasn't attacking, so I guessed it was just a ghoul then.

"Welcome to the slog! We're the only tarberry bog in the Commonwealth. Name's Wiseman, I run the place. So what do you think of the place?" the man asked as I looked around. After studying the place, I answered.

"Making the best out of an old swimming pool. I like the way you think."

"I appreciate your saying so. When I came across this place, it was the first time I'd seen anything like it, It seemed like a shame not to use it for something. You've probably noticed it's only ghouls around here. I used to live in Diamond City until that rat bastard mayor threw me and all the other ghouls out. I decided that we ghouls should have a place where we could feel welcome, and that's mainly why I started up this farm."

"Why did that piece of merde throw you out?"

"We're ugly, we turn feral and kill people, we give the kids nightmares, all the usual stuff we get from you smoothskins. Now it's true there was one incident in Diamond City where a ghoul turned feral and someone got hurt. But I ask you this- how many humans have suddenly turned violent and killed someone? I've seen it more times than I care to admit. What if this place could be more than a refuge for ghouls who aren't welcome elsewhere? What if it could also be an example of what we can do when we put our minds to something and work together? We want this to be a place that everyone looks forward to visiting, with smiling faces, good bargains, and great produce. Maybe we can make people take a second look, you know? Maybe then they'd see that we're not monsters."

"I'd be glad to help in any way I can," I responded, taking my helmet off and flashing him a smile.

"Well, we do have a problem. We can't sell tarberries without traders, and trade caravans need safe roads. There's a gang of Super Mutants that's been preying on anyone who comes near their turf, including traders. It'd be a great help to us if you could take care of those brutes once and for all."

"Do you know where they're coming from?"

"Breakheart Banks. It's just down the road from here, keep heading west and it'll be on your right. Hard to miss them."

"I'll be leaving my Power Armor here, and I'll go take care of the problem."

After finding a spot inside the building, I hopped out of the X-01, and after making sure whether Heather wanted to leave hers or not, we started walking. Considering they had to be close enough to attack within an hour, I wasn't too worried about getting back to The Slog before night fell. About ten minutes after we started walking, we had to stop and crouch down. Well, actually I just laid down. A Mr. Gutsy and an Assaultron were fighting a glowing bloatfly, and I was not going to get involved until it was over. Less work and makes it easier to kill them. I'll spare the details and point out only the Mr. Gutsy survived.

"Come on, tin can!" I yelled as I pulled out my rifle. "Show us what you got!"

The Mr. Gutsy tried to use his laser, but Dogmeat got ahold of the arm and pulled it down, aiming it at the ground. Heather and I started firing, me hitting the thruster and Heather going for the main body. When it went down I fired a couple more bullets into it, making sure it stayed down.

"Hey, we took this one down together," I commented as Heather turned to the machine. "Ok, Heather, I need you to see what you can get from the Mr. Gutsy. I'll go check out the Assaultron." When I was searching it, I raised my hand in the air with an item and yelled, "Got a circuit board! Excellent for making a computer!"

I began to do a little dance as we started walking, snapping my fingers and spinning, shaking my head to the beat of the radio. After another thirty minutes of walking, we found the place and I turned to Curie after I scouted it.

"Okay, here's the plan. Curie, you stay with Heather. Only shoot if a Super Mutant gets too close."

After her eye nodded, I turned to Heather. "I need you to aim for the heads. Dogmeat and I are going to get close, knock them to the ground, then hold them so you don't have to worry about them moving."

More Super Mutants to kill! Yes!" Heather commented, making me laugh.

"Well let's get to work."

"Come on, coq merdes! Bring on the heat!" I yelled as I pulled out my knuckles, putting them on as I ran.

"Stupid human!" the first one yelled, running at me with a board raised.

"Not as dumb as you!" I yelled as I ducked under the board, before sending my fist into his gut. "I don't blindly run into every fight!" I pulled back my fist and used the other one to punch him in the back of his head while he bent over holding his stomach, knocking him face-first into the dirt. I didn't have much time to celebrate as I got ready and braced myself for a Mutant Hound running at me.

"Not today, pupper!" I mocked it as it lunged, giving me the perfect opportunity to punch him in the side of the head. "You're too rough to play with my doggo!"

Before I could get ready for another opponent, I got knocked over, the wind getting knocked out of me as I landed on my side.

"That wasn't nice," I muttered as I rolled away before getting onto my feet. "You're a bad doggy, aren't ya."

It started charging, and I got ready. Right as it was about to lunge, I dropped to the ground and kicked up, planting my feet into the underside of the mutt. It yelped as I sent it back to one of its owners, who roared in anger.

"Die!" It screamed at me as it shot its gun, an assault rifle, and was a decent shot, though the bullets bounced harmlessly off the breastplate and helmet.

"Not before you," I yelled as I ran at him, and planted my feet on the ground in front of it. He brought up his weapon to hit me, but before he brought it down, I buried my fist in its gut, making him stagger back before falling to his knees. "Now go join your brothers." Before he could make any noise, I brought my fist up before swinging down, knocking him to the ground. When I turned towards the next mutant, I staggered back, something hitting the middle of my helmet.

"Dead human!" a Super Mutant yelled, cheering way too early. Granted my vision was blurry now, some of the laser going through the crack in the glass, though it did nothing to my hearing or smell. And boy did the muties smell.

"I'm still alive, crap bag!" I yelled before charging at him. "And that's a weak gun!" He kept firing, the lasers missing as I ran side to side. When I got close enough I slid and grabbed his legs, pulling them out from under him. Before he got up, I felt his body heat up before turning to ash, and when I turned, when my vision cleared for a bit, I saw Heather had her rifle up and aimed where he was.

"Good job!" I yelled as I stuck a thumbs up out, not entirely sure where it was aimed at.

"Behind you!" she yelled, and I ducked and kicked back, my foot landed between something, breaking whatever it hit.

"Aagh!" I heard a mutant yell in pain, and I realized I had hit it where its groin would've been.

Before moving, I took a deep breath, catching the scent of the mutants, and turned, ready to fight.

"Die!" a mutant yelled as it ran at me. I waited, and when I knew it was swinging its hammer down, I twisted my body, the hammer now missing completely, and sent a puncturing knuckle to his jaw, feeling the bone break as he staggered back. Before he recovered, I twisted my body again, sending the other knuckle into his cheek, knocking him to the side. I listened for any more, and when I heard nothing, I questioned, "Is that all of them? I could've sworn there was another in the big building."

"I already took care of him," Heather responded as she came up to me. "Can you see right now?"

"Nope. Mind leading us back to the Slog? And can I hold your hand so I don't lose you guys?"

Honestly, I wish I knew what she had done then. I just know it seemed to take a minute for her to register what I said before she grabbed my hand. I can say how I felt when she grabbed it. Glee. I was thankful for the helmet because I was sure it showed on my face as well.

"Curie already got the ammunition and weapons," Heather explained. "Knew you wouldn't want those left behind."

"Well when we get back, we got to inject a stimpak into my head. Some of a laser that hit got through the helmet, now I can't see worth a merde."

"Monsieur, must you be so vulgar," Curie questioned. "If you must, please do it less."

"To be fair, I'm not saying any profanity in English," I told her. "Every word you hear me say is in French."

"I don't understand what he says unless he explains it," Heather commented. "I don't get why, but I've accepted it. It's who he is."

"And the world is stuck with me," I joked, exaggerating with my free hand.

At one point, Heather turned the radio on my Pip-Boy on, and I explained to her how to use it so she could activate it. Pretty soon, we got to the Slog and Heather sat me down in one of the chairs and went to find Wiseman while I took my helmet off, wincing when the air hit the wound on my head.

"That looks like it hurt," Wiseman said as he came up. "So I guess we don't have to worry about those mutants?"

"They won't be a problem anymore. If you want to thank me, just remember it was the Minutemen who helped you."

"I won't forget what you've done for us…" Wiseman said before trailing off, waiting for a name.

"Just call me General for now. It's my rank."

"Thank you, General. We won't forget this."

When Wiseman went back to work, I didn't even need my vision to know it was night. For one thing, everything was dark. And for another, the nighttime music on the radio was playing.

"You can't be so reckless, monsieur," Curie scolded as Heather sat next to me and started applying medicine to my forehead.

"To be fair, if I was reckless I would've forgotten the helmet," I reminded her. "But, I'll see what I can do about increasing the defensive capabilities of the helmet next time we're in Sanctuary."

After Heather finished wrapping my head, she hoisted me up by the arm and led me to a bed.

"Rest up. We've got a long day tomorrow," she said as she laid beside me.

"Of course," I told her. "Wouldn't have it any other way.


	18. Chapter 17: Dunwich Borers and Traveling

Waking up the next morning was amazing! My head was feeling better, and my vision wasn't blurry! Heather definitely knew how to use her remedies.

"Morning!" I greeted Wiseman as I came out of the house. "I'm guessing the border of the area extends beyond the pavement."

For the most part," Wiseman confirmed, "except for the end where the workshop is. Barely extends past it, right at the rock wall."

"That makes this easier. I'm going to make some plans for walls and guard towers so you guys can defend yourselves in the events of an attack on this place," I explained.

"Just leave them on the table inside, and I'll check them out when I'm on a break."

"Well, I'll let you get back to work. I'm gonna head inside and get to work on 'em."

When I sat at the coffee table they had, I pulled some paper from my bag and got to work. The wall, for the most part, was simple, going around the pool and farm, though there would be one wall separating the farm and pool area. I also had to make a plan for a building that more settlers would be able to sleep in since the building they had wouldn't be able to hold too many people. All in all, it took about an hour and a half to do, so after setting the plans down, I pulled more paper down and started writing down what had happened the past couple of days.

"Hiya," Heather greeted as I was finishing up the paper. "You ready to go?"

"You stole my line," I grinned. "But yeah, let's grab Curie and Dogmeat, and let's go."

When Heather went to get Curie, I went to find Dogmeat and found one of the farmers playing with him, both having fun.

"Howdy," I greeted him. "Mind if I grab Dogmeat? We'll be heading out soon, and I can't leave him here."

"Of course, General. Been a while since I've seen a dog."

"Well, if he ever has pups, I'll send one here."

"Really? You'd do that?"

"Yep. Dogs raise people's spirits most of the time. Besides, you enjoy his company. I'll send the next dog I find here."

After telling the ghoul that I'd see him around, Dogmeat followed me, and we met Heather and Curie by the cooking station they had. When we started walking, I turned on the Diamond City Radio and danced as we walked. When we neared Breakhart Banks, we took a right on the road where I noticed a little farm off to the side and walked up to see if they needed any kind of help.

"We could really use your help," a woman said as I approached her.

"Of course. What seems to be the problem: Raiders, Super Mutants, Feral Ghouls."

"It's these raiders in Dunwich. They keep demanding food and tribute, but we can't keep this up. If you can take care of them, we'd be grateful."

"We'll take care of it, ma'am," I assured her. "We've fought worse things."

Before we left, I handed her husband one of the combat rifles we had and a couple of bullets in case anything attacked while we were away.

"Do you know where the place is, Mason," Curie asked as we walked by the Slog as we headed east.

"May not be on the map yet, but I know where it is," I confirmed for her. "It's near the old Museum, which is the only reason I know the location."

While we walked, I spoke to Heather about what to do about repairing the armor when we got back to Sanctuary. Probably retire it due to the damage done to the helmet, and the armor didn't look right without it. May have been more practical to wear it, but with all the combat armor we'd found so far and the materials at the place, I could probably turn it from light to sturdy, making it better than the armor I currently had, though I still didn't have a helmet for it.

When I realized we were nearing the quarry, I quickly turned the radio off and commanded for the others to be quiet and wait. There was a building on the top on the side we were on that had a raider in it, and I had to wait for him to leave. When he did, I grabbed the edge of a window and pulled myself through it, making sure he didn't hear me as I stepped to the ground. When I heard him coming back, I took out my knife and hid behind the corner of the doorway and waited for him to step into the room.

"Night night, mère baiseur," I said as I thrust my knife into his throat, cutting off the air to his lungs. When he fell to the ground, I put my knife away and went over to the terminal and found it connected to some turrets.

"Don't I have a holotape for this," I muttered as I dug through my bag, sure I had found something like this a while back. When I found it and pulled it out, I stuck it into the terminal. Using it to override the targeting parameters, now using them to take care of the raiders so I didn't waste any energy. After making sure the turrets were operational, I took my helmet out and strapped it into place.

"Let's get to work!" I yelled to the others and ran out, pulling out my knuckles and putting them on as I ran down the steps, grabbing onto the railing at the turns. The first raider I ran into tried to say something but got riddled with bullets from a turret before he could.

"Good job!" I yelled at the turret as I stuck a thumbs up for some reason.

"Mother fucker!" another raider running up the steps yelled and stopped to fire his gun at me.

"I made the woman a mother!" I yelled as I grabbed the rails and launched myself at the man, feet hitting him on the chest, taking him down. "And don't forget, you're nothing compared to what I've fought." Before he could grab his gun again, I pulled my fist back before smashing it into his face, breaking his nose. I did this repeatedly, the man struggling to get me off as I did, though it proved fruitless as, after a few hits, his arms went limp.

"Who's next, gâteaux de merde!" I yelled as I stood up. I saw a man wearing power armor and grinned. "You and me!" I yelled as I ran at him. When he turned around, he tried to raise his gun to shoot, but I knocked it to the side before planting my fist into his face.

"Fuck!" the raider yelled as he stumbled back. "You bastard! I'll fucking kill you!"

When he swung his arm to hit my head, I ducked, going behind him and punched the back of his head.

"Could've sworn I felt the wind go by!" I taunted.

"Aagh!" he yelled as he brought his hands up before swinging them down, hitting the ground where I had been standing.

"Well, screw you too, connard!" I yelled as I slammed my fist into the top of his head, the top of his skull caving in, blood spilling from his head.

When he fell, and I turned to the next group of raiders, they were frozen, either paralyzed in fear or shocked by the display. Most likely paralyzed. When they noticed I was looking at them, they aimed their guns and started firing.

"Stay away!" one of them yelled. "Stay back, I'm warning you!"

I started walking towards them, most of their bullets bouncing off my armor, and when one grazed my arm, I crouched, a few bullets flying above me, and ran right.

"He's trying to run away!" one of them yelled. "Get the ass hole!"

"Not running," I grunted as I got beside the closest one, planting a foot on the wall. "Just getting good footing!"

Before they could figure out what I meant, I kicked off the wall, fisted ready, and punched the woman across her jaw, breaking and tearing bits of it off as I followed through with it.

"Violet!" the other raider yelled as his partner fell to the ground, then turned to me. "You're gonna pay for that!"

"Oh, really? I'd like to see you try."

The man dropped his gun and pulled out a knife and thrusted at me, clearly going for my arm. The blade hit my chest plate as I moved in front of it, the blade snapping on the armor, and jabbed his face before knocking him upside the head by hitting his chin.

When Heather and Curie came down with Dogmeat, I turned to Heather.

"This definitely isn't all of them," I told her. "This place is too big for there to be this little."

"Before we go in, please let the mademoiselle look at your arm." Curie pleaded.

After agreeing to her request, Heather got a pad and wraps and applied it to the arm while I held the armor above it, so it didn't get in the way, using one of her remedies for it. After thanking Heather, we started walking and found a door that led into the place, and entered the underground.

After walking for about two minutes, we ran into a room that had two raiders and a turret. With no way to get to the turret, I had to tell Heather to take care of it while I got the raiders. Before they knew I was there, I ran at one standing by a terminal and grabbed him by the head, slamming it onto the railing beside him. He crumpled to the ground, and I jumped over the railing, running to the next raider while the turret was firing at Heather and Curie.

"Ah, my leg," the raider yelled when Dogmeat bit her, holding her in place.

"That's a good boy!" I commented as I slammed my fist into the woman's head, knocking her to the ground, her skull cracking open on the stone.

I almost turn before hearing something explode and turn back to see the turret had blown up.

"Alright, search that body for ammunition," I commanded as I pointed at the first raider I had taken care of. "I'll check this one."

When Heather came over to me with what the raider had, I had gotten some bullets and a hunting rifle off the woman, thankful it had a recon scope.

"What we got?" I questioned Heather as I stood up.

"A combat rifle and bullets," Heather told me as she put the ammunition in my hand and put the gun into one of the bags Curie had strapped to her.

"Alright, let's get moving."

We started heading deeper into the quarry, with a bit more pep in our step. Oh god. I sound like a parent with a walking kid. We soon came to a room, and when I looked at the enemies, I saw four people, one on a set of stairs that led nowhere, two sitting on a cran, and another just walking.

"Same plan as Breakheart," I told Heather. "You ready for this?"

"Let's do it," Heather smiled, and I grinned.

"As soon as the first one hits the ground, open fire."

I started running, tripping the first one I ran into. Before he could get up, I pulled off his helmet and held him up by the throat before Heather shot him in the head. I dropped him and grinned, and the others had started firing. I dodged and weaved my way to the one on the stairs, ramming my shoulder into her, knocking her over the rail, falling headfirst onto the stone, breaking her neck. The other two were now firing, though the bullets kept hitting the mesh flooring, and when they stopped to reload, I jumped down and forced them down, grabbing them by the back of their throats when I did. I lifted the heavier one in front of me, allowing Heather to burn him with lasers, and pulled my knife out and stabbed the other in the back of the head.

"We make an excellent team," I told Heather as we searched the bodies. "And you're amazing. I will not forget to say that."

"Thank you!" Heather said as she handed me a few bullets. "And, you're awesome."

I didn't know how to respond to that, so I started walking, putting it at the back of my mind for now. I never liked taking compliments, mainly cause I never knew how to react.

After a few minutes, we found a walkway that led down into a hole. And it was pretty deep too. After looking around, I found a switch and flipped it, turning on the lights. Did the raiders down there know we were here? Yes. Could we see clearer so we could fight better? Also yes.

"Alright, Heather, follow behind. Curie, you follow behind Heather. Dogmeat, behind me and in front of Heather."

When they got ready, I started walking down the steps, and got down one set and came to another, noticing a raider at the bottom of it.

"What the hell?" the man yelled, and I sat on the railing of the stair and slid down it. "Die fucke-"

Unfortunately for him, he got interrupted when I rammed my soldier into him when I reached the bottom of the rail. When I stood up, I grabbed him by the back of his armor and tossed him over the side, his body hitting the floor with a sickening _THUD_!

"Well, that worked," I commented as I ran down the steps to the next person. "Not the first, but I didn't think that would work. Agh!"

Right as I got to the bottom, I had to block an incoming strike from whom I could guess was the boss, considering they were wearing a helmet with what looked like cage armor.

"That wasn't nice," I told her as I pushed her arm back. "But I'm not either."

Using my free arm, I swung up, punching her in the chin, making her stumble back. When she regained her balance, I noticed blood had started to seep through the armor.

"Mother thucker!" she tried to yell, making me almost laugh. "I'll thill thou!"

She tried to swing at me again, but before she could hit, I grabbed her arm and punched her in the face, breaking the welding goggle she was wearing. She went down, and before getting up, I slammed my fist into her three more times, ending her like her friends.

"I think that's all of them," I told Heather. "Let's look around for anything."

I let Heather search the woman while I got some bullets off the one I tossed over, and found a magazine by a terminal!

"Sweet! Another one! I found another magazine, another magazine, another magazine! I found another magazine, and no one can take it!" I sang proudly, making Heather and Curie laugh.

"Monsieur, you are very childish."

"Well, let's keep exploring," I told Curie. "That way, I don't act like this. Eh, who are we kidding? I'll still do this."

After turning the radio back on, we started heading deeper into the place to see if there was anything useful further down. At one point at an open area, we stopped, and I gestured for Heather to fire her rifle. When she did, the area in front of us lit aflame, proving my guess that gas was there.

"How did you see that, Mason?" Curie questioned.

"Smelt it," I told her. "Now heads up, we got company."

Some feral ghouls were running up a slope towards us, and the first one to try to hit me failed, and I grabbed the second by the throat and held it up for Heather. I noticed more coming, and when they were near the bottom of the slope, I pulled a grenade from my bag, one of the last ones we had, and tossed it towards them. Right when it was by them, I pulled out my pistol and shot it, causing the grenade to blow and destroy the head of the ferals.

"I did not expect that to work," I admitted to Heather. "I honestly expected to miss that."

"Well, you're a good shot," Heather said as I flipped a switch, turning on some lights. "Why haven't you been using your guns lately, though."

"Don't want to talk about it right now," I told her as we approached a door leading to another area. "That's something for another day."

When I opened the door, the room suddenly went white, and when I walked forward, I saw something that looked like workers just hanging out, as though the bombs hadn't fallen. This was… odd, but nothing I couldn't handle. The room went white again, and when it dimmed down, I heard a yelping noise and turned to see Dogmeat getting hit by ferals!

"Get off my dog, baiseurs!" I yelled as I ran towards them, pulling out a grenade as I did. I punched one away before grabbing Dogmeat by his collar, pulled him out of the room, and slammed the door shut, the ferals beating on it to get through.

"How are we doing this?" Heather asked, and I held up the grenade.

"Blowing them back to whatever hole they came from," I told her as I pulled the pin, took a deep breath, then quickly opened the door and tossed the grenade in, shutting the door as soon as I could.

"And three…" I said as I held the door. "Two…" the ferals had caused cracks in the door at his point. "One…" I got sent flying forward and hit Heather's armor headfirst as the grenade exploded, knocking her over and landing weirdly.

"Well, that could've gone better," I groaned as I sat up. "You alright, Heather?"

"I'm fine," she responded. "Honestly surprised, the explosion didn't knock you out."

"Back of the armor took most of the force," I explained. "People rarely attack from behind."

After regaining our senses, we got onto our feet and continued moving forward. When I looked around the area, I found a bobblehead and held it up to Heather.

"It looks like a child sneaking," I laughed as I pointed at it. "Isn't that funny?" After putting it away, I looked through an explosives crate and found a mine with four grenades in it, bringing the total number I had up to seven. I almost tell the others to get ready to leave when I feel something… pull me? I don't know; something was drawing me down a tunnel beyond the area with the crate. I didn't trust it though, So after setting the mine down, I started walking down it, making sure to drop grenades in range of each other. The room turned white again, looking around I saw people surrounding a table and praising something before it turned back and I saw feral ghouls coming.

"Oh, screw you!" I yelled when one tried to bite, punching it in the head and getting ready. "Where are all your friends?" I questioned as more came crawling from a hole filled with water. "There you are."

I turned and started running, gesturing for Heather, Dogmeat, and Curie to back away. As they did, I pulled my pistol out, which wouldn't do much to these guys since radiation healed them, and waited. Right as they were near the mine, I pulled the trigger, pulling it three times after missing twice. The effect was immediate, as the mine caused the grenade in front of it to explode, which caused the next to do the same, which made the final one go to Hades.

"Okay," I said as I caught my breath. "There's… something down... that hole…" After catching my breath, I turned to Heather. "You got some Rad-X?"

"Here you go," Heather said as she gave me two pills.

"Well, down the hatch!" I said as I held up a bottle of water and used it to wash the pills down. After I was sure they had gone down and had started to work their magic, I went to the water pit and took off my helmet and armor, then finally took my shirts and pants off with my boots. I jumped into the water and began feeling my way around. I managed to find an opening and followed it down. I poked around for anything, and found a rusted blade or something and gripped it in one hand, and got a hold of two mini-nukes, holding the ends of them together with my other hand. I swam back to the surface and put the mini-nukes and blade onto the ground, then hoisted myself out of the water, heavily breathing as I got my air back.

"That… was tiring," I told Heather, who was hiding her face for some reason.

"Monsieur, can you put on some clothes? It seems your lack of clothing had caused her heart rate to rise," Cure explained.

"Eh, sure," I told Curie as I found a towel that was in her bag. "Give me a minute to dry off."

After drying off and putting my clothes on, I turned to Heather and let her know I had clothes on, and she helped make sure my armor was on correctly. When we put the mini-nukes away, I grabbed my helmet with one hand and held the blade, which seemed to have a name engraved into it, in the other, and started walking.

"Let's go," I said as I passed Curie. "Daylight's limited. Let's head back the way we came, and we should be back to the settlement before dark."

As we walked, we passed by the corpse we left behind and picked up some more bullets that we missed. When we got back to the surface, the sun was starting to descend, and I turned my radio on. As we walked, we cut through a part of the woods that led by an old listening post and ran into a bear with minimal fur.

"This is great," I groaned as it charged, Heather raising her laser while I got the new blade ready. "What are these called?"

"Yao Guai," Heather told me. "You can usually smell them long before you can see them."

"Well, that's good," I said as the bear got onto its hind legs and prepared to claw at me. "Now, I know to keep a nose out for them."

"Monsieur," Curie exclaimed. "Be careful!"

When the bear slammed his claws down, I jumped back before flipping the blade over and plunging it through the bear's skull, something that looked like poison entering the body.

"Not my first time fighting a bear obviously, but doesn't make it any less annoying," I muttered as we kept walking before a laser hit my shoulder. "I forgot about the turrets!" I leaned forward to avoid another one, put the blade away, and my helmet on, then pulled my rifle out and started firing at the barrel of the turrets.

"We got a protectron!" I yelled over to Heather as one came out of the station. Three well placed shots, and it stopped its movements in its tracks when the joints got jammed.

After a few minutes of firing, the turrets blew up, and the protectron went down, allowing us to pass as Heather and I ate some mutt chops. By the time we got back to the settlement, the sun was setting, and I needed some rest.

"I took care of those raiders," I told the woman as I approached her.

"Really? That's great news. We've decided to support the Minutemen if that's alright."

"How do you know I work for them," I questioned since I hadn't told her.

"The paint on your rifle," her husband said as he came up. "Only Minutemen have that paint on it."

"Well, you'd be right then," I told them. "I'm the General. But don't go spreading it around."

"Of course," the man said. "Anything for you."

We left our junk at the settlement's workbench, gave the farmer I had given a gun to some armor, and gathered some materials together to make a bed for the night. When Heather laid down, I grabbed a jacket that was in my bag and handed it to her as I started taking my armor off.

"I'll join you in bed later, "I told her as I set the armor down on a table.

"Making plans?" Heather questioned, making me grin.

"Yeah," I confirmed. "I'd prefer leaving in the morning after we've all woken up and had something to eat. Can't do that if I have to make plans."

After telling her goodnight, I grabbed some paper and a pencil from my bag and sat on the chair in the living room, took my Pip-Boy off and turned on the radio, and got to work. For the most part, the walls would go around the greenhouse, with a gate that led to the main road, so there would only be one entrance when it was built. By the time I finished, it was midnight, and the moon was high in the sky, though I couldn't tell if it was in the first or second quarter of the cycle this time around. I don't pay attention to the moon every day.

After rubbing my eyes, I put the papers onto a table with mutfruit in it and went to bed. After lying down and making sure not to wake Heather, I closed my eyes and fell asleep for the day.

"We're already behind schedule a bit," I told Heather as we were preparing to leave that morning. "Make sure to put your armor on. Don't know if we'll run into raiders today."

"Where are we heading, Mason?" Curie asked as she hovered nearby.

"Northeast. We've covered most of this area except the Northeast and central region. From what I can tell, there aren't that many areas in the north left, so we'll cover that area then head to Malden."

"Is he like this every morning?" I heard the woman ask Heather.

"Most. There are some where he tells us the plans the previous night," Heather responded.

"Let's move out," I told Heather, Curie, and Dogmeat as I turned on the Diamond City Radio. After walking for a while, Curie spoke up,

Before long, we got to Breakheart Banks and were climbing down, me carrying both mine and Heather's bags, so she didn't have to worry about breaking an ankle. After we cross the river, we come up to a place with a giant tower with a siren on top of it and almost walk to it before seeing there are raiders there. I told Curie to get back, so the raiders didn't see her while I crouched low with Heather and Dogmeat.

"Any dangerous creatures in the area?" I asked Heather.

"Probably some deathclaws, though I don't know how we'd attract any to this area."

"I got an idea, but it's a dumb one," I admitted. "Go get Curie, and on my signal, get ready to watch my back and get to the tower."

"On it."

When Heather had gotten by Curie, I waited until the raider outside the tower was walking in, before waving to Heather.

"Come on!" I yelled to them as I ran towards the building with Dogmeat on my heels, Heather and Curie not far behind.

"Morning," I muttered when the raider came out of the building, grabbing his face and slamming the back of his head into the doorframe. "Change your occupation if you survive."

I began to run up the stairs of the tower, pushing a raider over the rails about halfway up, making him hit his head on some rails as he fell. When I got up there, I saw the siren and found the switch, flipped it, and listened as the siren went off as I covered my ears and got in cover, the noise deafening. After a minute, one of the raiders had shot up and disabled the siren, canceling out the noise. I almost started to go down the steps to take care of them when I heard two roars in the distance.

"Deathclaws?" I questioned Heather as she was in cover beside me, peering over and shooting at the raiders every thirty seconds.

"Yep. How'd you know any were near?"

"Didn't," I admitted as a bullet hit the top of my helmet. "I just saw the siren and hoped for the best." Before continuing, I dug through my bag before pulling out the Gauss Rifle we had found with the ammunition. "Now, I get to piss creatures off. Not something I would advise doing most of the time."

After making sure the gun was loaded, I waited before hearing two giant creatures coming and started charging the gun. I looked over the side and noticed one of the creatures was white, and aimed the gun at its foot before firing, the recoiling knocking me onto my rear end, the Albino roaring when the bullet went through its foot. I charged the gun up again before aiming over the side, this time for the other Deathclaws tail, and pulled the trigger.

"I think I accomplished my goal," I told Heather as the Deathclaw roared.

"Monsieur, are you sure that was a smart idea?" Curie asked.

"Considering this most likely isn't the place for a deathclaw to settle down, after they kill the raiders, they'll probably leave."

I tuned out the raiders screaming as they tried to kill the deathclaws, turning up the radio to keep the noise away. After a while, I looked over the side and saw the raiders were all dead, the deathclaws had left, and the whole place looked like something out of a horror show.

"You see the deathclaws anywhere?" I asked Heather as she was looking through her scope.

"They're gone," she responded.

"Then let's go loot the bodies," I told her as I started walking down the steps. "There's bound to be ammunition on them, probably some more stuff in the buildings."

"Don't forget this," Heather said as she tossed me a set of keys.

"That's surprising," I told her when I caught them before looking at where she got them from. "I forgot to check the body."

When we got to the bottom of the stairs, I got some armor off the guy I had pushed over the railing, which was essentially useless, but the materials were better than nothing.

"Do you mind checking out that shack?" I asked Heather as she came out of the tower, pointing to the nearest one. "Take Curie with you."

"On it," Heather grinned, making me smile as I took my helmet off.

As she searched the shack, I looked for loot on the raiders that were dead, getting a decent amount of scrap armor off them. By the time I finished, Heather and Curie were both looking for stuff in the shack, so I went to a larger one further from the tower. When I was looking around, I found a chest that was locked and knew it would be too difficult for me to pick before I remembered the keys Heather had given me.

"Yes," I said as the chest opened, seeing two combat armor pieces, a chest, and right arm. Setting them aside, for now, I looked through the chest and got some ammunition and a pipe weapon that we could scrap later. After putting the stuff into my bag, I put it on and walked to where Heather and Curie were, Heather holding something in her hands.

"You guys find anything?" I asked as approached.

Some food and this magazine," Heather responded as she handed it to me. After looking through it, I put it away in Heather's bag.

"Nothing useful," I told her. "Just instructions on lawn flamingos. Now let's get going. There's an asylum and a graveyard nearby. Gonna mark them before we start heading to Malden."


End file.
